The man of the hour, Elon Musk, is tweeting as much as he can in these past few weeks – and might be related to his deal to buy Twitter. In his latest tweet, Musk is once again attacking Apple’s App Store fees to developers. This time, he compares it to having a “30% tax on the internet.”
In a reply to another tweet, Tesla’s CEO writes:
Apple’s store is like having a 30% tax on the Internet. Definitely not ok.
Interesting or not, Epic’s Tim Sweeney also retweeted the post mentioned above.
This is not the first time that Elon Musk makes it clear that the App Store fees are a problem in his opinion. In July of 2021, he called it a “de facto global tax on the internet.” At the time, Musk corroborated with the Epic Games debate on whether Apple should open its App Store to offer alternate ways to take payment for digital goods or let users choose from different stores.
A few days later, Tesla’s CEO again criticized Apple over its “walled garden” during an earnings call. Musk was asked about Tesla’s plans to open its coveted Supercharging network to third parties. Then, he explained that the company’s goal is not to create a “walled garden” but rather to “support the advent of sustainable energy.” Musk hid his criticism of Apple behind a “cough.”
I think we want to emphasize that our goal is to support the advent of sustainable energy. It is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors which is used by some companies.
Musk was also asked about Tesla’s supply chain during the call, leading him again to bring up Apple. Musk explained that while Apple’s batteries use 100% cobalt, Tesla’s use is much lower:
Apple uses I think almost 100% cobalt in their batteries and cell phones and laptops, but Tesla uses no cobalt in the iron-phosphate packs, and almost none in the nickel-based chemistries,” Musk said. “On on a weighted-average basis we might use 2% cobalt compared to say, Apple’s 100% cobalt. Anyway, so it’s just really not a factor.
9to5Mac’s Take
While Elon Musk’s tweet won’t impact Apple at this point, it’s important to note that the company is still facing legal battles all over the world with politicians, big techs, and governments trying to end Apple’s alleged “monopoly.”
9to5Mac‘s Ben Lovejoy wrote an interesting article on this matter, saying how Apple could finally handle all of these situations if the company wanted. You can read it here.
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