Apple’s Tight Grip on iMessage Spurs Fresh Calls for an Antitrust Probe

The US Department of Justice has got mail: A coalition of more than a dozen tech advocacy groups wrote to the agency today calling on it to launch an investigation into allegedly anticompetitive behavior by Apple. The letter says that Apple’s recent blocking of Beeper , which reverse engineered iMessage to allow compatibility with Android phones , is another example of Apple “abusing its power to stifle competition and protect its famed ‘walled garden.’” It was sent by the Tech Oversight Project, which campaigns for tougher tech regulation. A second letter was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday by Demand Progress,…