UK group goes after Apple iCloud
The UK consumer rights protection group called ‘Which?’ has taken legal action against Apple, claiming that the iPhone-maker locked users into its iCloud storage offering and overcharged them for the same by violating competition law. ‘Which?’ intends to represent a huge number of customers who have paid for iCloud since October 2015 and has filed a £3 billion claim against Apple, calling on the gadget-maker to open up its iOS ecosystem and enact systemic changes.
Apple has denied the allegations, reported Reuters, and said that many of its customers did indeed choose to use cloud service providers that were not iCloud. While there are multiple cloud service providers in the Android market, Apple’s ecosystem is dominated by its own iCloud; the consumer group claims this has hurt competition in the cloud market sector and stopped Apple customers from considering rival services.
Nvidia chips heating issue
Nvidia is facing issues with its AI-centric Blackwell graphics processing units that overheat when connected together in the company’s server racks, reported The Information, citing anonymous sources. While Nvidia has not yet confirmed the development, the company is reportedly looking to have the server racks redesigned to overcome the heating problem. However, there are concerns that the latest snag could lead to delays for Big Tech players setting up data centres.
Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chips make it possible for users to get faster responses from AI chatbots. Some high-level users of Nvidia’s offerings include Meta, Google, and Microsoft.
Antitrust regulators prepare for Trump
The return of Donald Trump as U.S. president in 2025 raises questions about the fate of existing antitrust regulators and their hardliner leaders, such as Lina Khan of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department. While the Biden administration was noted for taking action against high-level mergers as well as the concentration of power amongst Big Tech companies, experts and analysts predict that Trump will introduce a softer stance.
In addition to this, the appointment of billionaire Elon Musk to co-lead a department focused on government efficiency has raised fears about entire federal agencies and regulators being completely cut out of the system. However, there is common opposition to Big Tech companies violating users’ privacy rights and data security, so it is not likely that tech giants will run entirely wild under Trump.
Published - November 18, 2024 12:15 pm IST
