Skip to main content

Elon thanks Tim Cook for tour of ‘Apple’s beautiful HQ’ as Twitter Blue on pause to avoid 30% App Store fee

Following Elon Musk calling out Apple and Tim Cook over a drop in advertising spend on Twitter, its 30% App Store fee, and more, there’s been a shift. This afternoon, Musk tweeted a thank you to the Apple CEO for a tour of the company’s “beautiful HQ.”

In an interesting turn of events, Musk’s tweet – which includes a five-second video pan of what appears to be Apple Park – says “Thanks @tim_cook for taking me around Apple’s beautiful HQ”.

That comes after Musk said the iPhone maker mostly stopped its advertising on Twitter and asked the question “Do they hate free speech in America?” Apple nor Tim Cook responded to that.

If Elon’s tweet this afternoon is as it seems, it appears Cook invited him over to Cupertino to chat in person.

Corroborating the tweet, John Gruber has heard from a source at Apple Park that Cook was seen walking with Musk just now.

30% App Store fee and Twitter Blue

Top comment by freediverx

Liked by 31 people

One thing we have to hand to Tim Cook is that he's coolheaded and has a high degree of emotional intelligence. Diplomacy over childish sniping when there's a perceived upside to maintaining relations with a difficult individual. And the tour of Apple Park HQ was both gracious as well as a power move.

View all comments

During some face time with Cook, Musk almost certainly would have also brought up the 30% App Store fee along with what he called threats to withhold Twitter from the App Store.

Reported by Ars Technica via Platformer, Twitter Blue was originally planned to relaunch this week. However, Musk is allegedly working on how to avoid having customers pay for the $8/month service through Apple to skip the 30% App Store fee.

Update: Several hours after his initial tweet, Elon said they had “good conversation” and that Cook cleared up the misunderstanding about the perceived App Store threat.

Tim head via Apple.com, Elon head via Wikimedia

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

graphical user interface, website

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.