back in 1984 Apple introduced the world to its Macintosh computer by way of one of the most famous commercials of all time Apple portrayed the Mac as a tool of empowerment the company’s rival IBM as the equivalent of Big Brother 40 years later apple is far bigger than IBM ever was and faces criticism from software developers business partners and Regulators the company’s annual revenue is roughly equivalent to the GDP of a medium-sized country and its market cap more than $3 trillion making makes it the world’s most valuable company and yet these enormous numbers still understate Apple’s influence the ecosystem that has developed around the iPhone means that Apple controls huge platforms for digital communication Finance social networks Entertainment News pretty much anything you can think of global Regulators have said this may amount to an illegal Monopoly a charge that Apple strenuously denies in March the doj filed a complaint accusing Apple of forcing customers into its ecosystem and then profiting richly by doing so the latest case is interesting for two reasons first because the doj just won an antitrust verdict in a case against Google and second because unlike earlier lawsuits the goj complaint attacks the thing that customers seem to like most Apple designed its devices to work seamlessly with its other products the case will take years to resolve but in the meantime it raises hard questions for apple and will give fuel to critics as one former executive put it to us they’re starting to become big brother