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Is Spirit Airlines about to breach the final Frontier? Frontier Airlines appears to be readying a knockout blow against its chief rival in the low-cost airfare space by announcing 20 new routes, set to begin later this year. That includes new routes from cities like Detroit, Houston, Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Charlotte, and Dallas, with more on the way for 2026. One-way fares for those routes will be as low as $29 (from Baltimore to Houston), and as high as $89 (from Detroit to Cancun). While those low fares may sound exciting to travelers, the additional routes also appear to serve as a major attempt at swiping customers away from struggling Spirit Airlines, which has said that its quickly losing lift. Spirit warned that it could not make it through the end of the year without more capital. In its latest quarterly report, filed earlier this month, the company noted that adverse market conditions, including elevated domestic capacity and continued weak demand for domestic leisure travel in the second quarter of 2025, resulting in a challenging pricing environment. As a result, the Company continues to experience challenges and uncertainties in its business operations and expects these trends to continue for at least the remainder of 2025. This follows previous warnings from the company, including a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing late last year. It had also previously held merger talks with Frontier, which broke down in November. Frontier had also offered another merger earlier this year, which Spirit rejected. Now, it appears Frontier is going on offense, expanding its offerings, and potentially enticing away Spirits passengerswhich could prove a death knell for the struggling airline. We see a clear path to being the number one low-fare carrier in the top 20 U.S. metros, said Barry Biffle, CEO, Frontier Airlines, in a statement. As industry capacity adjusts, we want to ensure consumers in those markets continue to have affordable flight options. As a part of those adjustments, its possible that Biffle is hinting at Spirits potential grounding.
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E-Commerce
The U.S. Department of Justices (DOJ) long-running case against Google, in which Judge Amit Mehta ruled in April that Google monopolized the digital advertising market on the open web (and reaffirmed that ruling earlier this month), is expected to reach another milestone imminently. A final ruling on remedies could come within days or weeks. The two sides remain far apart on what they consider acceptable remedies. The DOJ has proposed a litany of options, while Google countered with a narrower proposal: ending non-exclusive browser agreements but retaining revenue-sharing arrangements with browser developers. What Judge Mehta decides could materially shape Googles futureand the way millions of people use the webgiven Chrome commands two-thirds of the browser market. What Judge Mehta decides could materially shape Googles futureand the way millions of people use the webgiven Chrome commands two-thirds of the browser market. The potential for an adverse remedy ruling in the case has been an overhang on Alphabet stock and could negatively impact the Streets perception of Alphabets terminal value, says Justin Post, a research analyst at Bank of America (BofA) Securities. Not only would such a ruling impact search operations in the US, in our view, but we also think would set an example for international regulatory agencies. Until Judge Mehtas ruling comes through, all options remain on the table though some appear far more likely than others. Total divestiture One potential remedy the DOJ has floated is forcing Google to divest from Chrome and barring it from developing another browser for five years. The looming threat has even spurred interest from suitors such as Perplexity, whose $34.5 billion bid Fast Companys Mark Sullivan described as more stunt than strategy. Legal experts, however, view this as the least likely outcome. I’m skeptical that a compelled divestiture of Chrome would be good for users, and thus skeptical that it would be ordered by the judge, says Anupam Chander, professor of law and technology at Georgetown University. Chander points out that such a move would expand the number of companies holding vast troves of user datacurrently concentrated with two largely trusted firms, Apple and Google. Adding more companies to that mix is scary, he says, suggesting Judge Mehta may be reluctant to take that path. The numbers reinforce that skepticism: The trial established that about half of all general search queries in the U.S. stem from entry points tied to Googles contracts the DOJ deems anti-competitive. According to a Bank of America analysis, Google could lose between 5% and 70% of Chromes search share if divestiture were ordered. Limiting agreements and adding choice screens A more likely remedy would resemble the choice screens seen in Europe, where users select their default search engine upon setup. I have a Samsung that ships not with Android search, but Google Search and Chrome, notes Chander. We might see it competing with DeepSeek or OpenAIs ChatGPT as the default engine, or Perplexity. Google currently secures default placement on many devices through lucrative exclusivity deals. Those contracts pay off: trial documents revealed that 61.8% of iOS search queries run through Safaris default engineGoogleand 80% of Android queries do the same. Internal Google estimates suggested losing Apples default position could wipe out $28.2 billion to $32.7 billion in revenue and up to 80% of iOS search volume. Sharing search data Another idea on the table is requiring Google to open its search index and ad data to rivals. But this remedy faces steep hurdles. Does the European Union and do data protection authorities want Google to be sharing that data with third parties? asks Chander. Whos going to be allowed to get that data? For that reason, he sees it as a non-starter. Whatever Judge Mehta orders, the battle is unlikely to end soon. The legal process could extend well into 2027, as Google has indicated it will appeal, says Post. But appeals may not play in Googles favor. The trial court [run by Mehta] is the one that has the most knowledge of the case, says Chander. Appeals court wont have the level of day-to-day knowledge of the workings and the sophisticated understanding the trial judge has.
Category:
E-Commerce
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence. The 61-page complaint filed in Texas federal court follows through on a threat that Musk made two weeks ago when he accused Apple of unfairly favoring OpenAI and ChatGPT in the iPhone’s app store rankings for top AI apps. Musk’s post insinuated that Apple had rigged the system against ChatGPT competitors such as the Grok chatbot made by his own xAI. Now, he is detailing a litany of grievances in the lawsuit filed by xAI and another of his corporate entities, X Corp.in an attempt to win monetary damages and a court order prohibiting the alleged illegal tactics. The double-barreled legal attack weaves together several recently unfolding narratives to recast a year-old partnership between Apple and OpenAI as a veiled conspiracy to stifle competition during a technological shift that could prove as revolutionary as the 2007 release of the iPhone. This is a tale of two monopolists joining forces to ensure their continued dominance in a world rapidly driven by the most powerful technology humanity has ever created: artificial intelligence, the lawsuit asserts. The complaint portrays Apple as a company that views AI as an existential threat to its future success, prompting it to collude with OpenAI in an attempt to protect the iPhone franchise that has long been its biggest moneymaker. Some of the allegations accusing Apple of trying to shield the iPhone from do-everything super apps, such as the one Musk has long been trying to create with X, echo an antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple last year by the U.S. Department of Justice. The complaint casts OpenAI as a threat to humanity bent on putting profits before public safety as it tries to build on its phenomenal growth since the late 2022 release of ChatGPT. The depiction mirrors one already being drawn in another federal lawsuit that Musk filed last year, alleging OpenAI had betrayed its founding mission to serve as a nonprofit research lab for the public good. OpenAI has countered with a lawsuit against Musk, accusing him of harassmentan allegation that the company cited in its response to Monday’s antitrust lawsuit. This latest filing is consistent with Mr. Musks ongoing pattern of harassment, OpenAI said in a statement. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The crux of the lawsuit revolves around Apple’s decision to use ChatGPT as an AI-powered answer engine on the iPhone when the built-in technology on its device couldn’t satisfy user needs. The partnership announced last year was part of Apple’s late entry into the AI race that was supposed to be powered mostly by its own on-device technology, but the company still hasn’t been able to deliver on all its promises. Apple’s own AI shortcomings may be helping drive more usage of ChatGPT on the iPhone, providing OpenAI with invaluable data that’s unavailable to Grok and other would-be competitors because it’s currently an exclusive partnership. The alliance has provided Apple with an incentive to improperly elevate ChatGPT in the AI rankings of the iPhone’s app store, the lawsuit alleges. Other AI apps from DeekSeek and Perplexity have periodically reached the top spot in the Apple app store’s AI rankings in at least some parts of the world since Apple announced its deal with ChatGPT. The lawsuit doesn’t mention the potential threat that ChatGPT could also pose to Apple and the iPhone’s future popularity. As part of its expansion efforts, OpenAI recruited former Apple designer Jony Ive to oversee a project aimed at building an AI-powered device that many analysts believe could eventually mount a challenge to the iPhone. Michael Liedtke, AP technology writer
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E-Commerce
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