Today is an important day for the four big tech giants in the USA. The House Judiciary Committee is to investigate anti-competitive behavior at Apple and Co. Now Tim Cook's statement has been published in advance.
In addition to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sindar Pichai of Google are expected to appear. For Apple, the ongoing investigation is about monopolistic control of the App Store. The Cupertino-based company has now published Cook's opening statement in advance. Initially, the Apple CEO plans to commemorate John Lewis' legacy and then move on to the competitive nature of the smartphone market. Apple's front man explains that Apple does not have a dominant market share in any area in which the company operates.
“The App Store is a trusted place”
Apple's strict commitment to protecting user privacy will also be addressed, which will undoubtedly be part of the questioning at the hearing. But the reason Apple is being targeted is the App Store. Specifically, it is the 30 percent that app developers have to pay to the company. Incidentally, the EU is also investigating the company for the same reason. According to Cook, the App Store is a trusted place for users to discover apps and a means for developers to develop and distribute apps safely to all iPhone users around the world. In addition, the CEO would like to remind that Apple gives developers the ability to set the price of their apps themselves and does not charge a base fee for applications to be included in the App Store.
Tim Cook highlights Appel's study
Apps like Netflix are also highlighted, as they are allowed to keep 100 percent of their revenue because distribution takes place entirely outside of the app store. In addition to Netflix, this also includes shopping apps.
"The only applications subject to Apple's commission are those where the developer acquires a customer on an Apple device and where the features or services would be experienced and consumed on an Apple device."
Furthermore, Apple’s CEO wants to launch a new study which was commissioned by the company itself. It shows that Apple's fees are not the highest. Apart from that, the company has never raised the commission rates since the App Store was founded - says Cook. Whether the company boss will be successful with this remains to be seen, of course. If you would like to see the full statement in full, you can find it in English here. (Image: Apple)
