Apple and other tech giants to testify to House antitrust panel next week
Representatives for Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have been asked to testify in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel on July 16, addressing worries of diminishing competition amidst the mega corporations.
Speaking for Apple will be Kyle Andeer, VP for corporate law and its chief compliance officer, according to the Washington Post. In the past the company has sent other high-profile executives to federal hearings, among them CEO Tim Cook, who in 2013 defended the company's use of overseas tax loopholes.
Also in attendance will be Amazon associate general counsel Nate Sutton, Facebook head of global policy development Matt Perault, and Google director of economic policy Adam Cohen.
The Department of Justice is eventually expected to launch formal antitrust investigations of companies like Apple and Google, which are already facing accusations elsewhere.
Apple, for instance, is dealing with multiple U.S. lawsuits over the App Store. The company has sole control over iOS distribution, and typically takes a 30% revenue cut -- together, plaintiffs say, those facts translate into artificially inflated prices for consumers and tougher conditions for developers.
Spotify recently filed a complaint with the European Commission, charging that Apple has made it difficult for third-party music services to compete. This is not only because of its revenue cut, but because Apple Music enjoys platform integration other services can't access -- HomePod owners, for example, can't set Spotify as their default service or control it with the same level of Siri commands Apple Music offers.
Apple has denied any accusations of monopolistic practices, for instance claiming that developers are paying for a package of services when they split their revenue.
Speaking for Apple will be Kyle Andeer, VP for corporate law and its chief compliance officer, according to the Washington Post. In the past the company has sent other high-profile executives to federal hearings, among them CEO Tim Cook, who in 2013 defended the company's use of overseas tax loopholes.
Also in attendance will be Amazon associate general counsel Nate Sutton, Facebook head of global policy development Matt Perault, and Google director of economic policy Adam Cohen.
The Department of Justice is eventually expected to launch formal antitrust investigations of companies like Apple and Google, which are already facing accusations elsewhere.
Apple, for instance, is dealing with multiple U.S. lawsuits over the App Store. The company has sole control over iOS distribution, and typically takes a 30% revenue cut -- together, plaintiffs say, those facts translate into artificially inflated prices for consumers and tougher conditions for developers.
Spotify recently filed a complaint with the European Commission, charging that Apple has made it difficult for third-party music services to compete. This is not only because of its revenue cut, but because Apple Music enjoys platform integration other services can't access -- HomePod owners, for example, can't set Spotify as their default service or control it with the same level of Siri commands Apple Music offers.
Apple has denied any accusations of monopolistic practices, for instance claiming that developers are paying for a package of services when they split their revenue.
Comments
As as far as the sole control over apps sold thing. This has always been about ensuring that malware stays off the platform. Apple’s 30 percent cut was widely known when Spotify was being made. Besides they’re currently the market leader and don’t allow people to sign up through their app anymore.
Apple wants to keep a thousand different apps from constantly begging for your credit card information, and that’s a good thing!
Also the App Store doesn’t drive up prices for consumers. They’d just need to point to Procreate verses Photoshop. You can get apps for insanely cheap on the iPhone and iPad. Far cheaper than you can when they’re sold directly from the developer.
Facebook is an obvious target.
But Apple? The one who tries the hardest to do right? Come on.
Apple saved the music industry from pirscy with it’s fompelling iTunes/iPod combo. It’s a winning solution. And they’ve been doing that same thing ever since. Only now, they’ve responded to competitors by jumping into the subscription ocean. They’re allowed to do that. And if more people like them over the competition, guess what? WE are allowed to do that too.
Now they are saving customers from hacks hacks and malware with vetted apps through their store.
Mob the phone side, that’s a necessity.
On the personal computing side, it’s a great option.
There is literally nothing to go after Apple about.
If Apple wants to impose limits on what is offered on their devices, there’s no law that says they can’t. The argument is treading in extremely dangerous territory. Forcing companies into what devices they can cannot make will most definitely stifle innovation.
The App Store is a feature only available on Apple’s devices. To say Apple has to open their devices to any kind of third party support is placing a restriction on what they’re allowed to do while trying to compete in a supposedly free and open market. IT WOULD be different if Apple’s devices had some kind of monopoly in their respective markets, but they most certainly do not. And even then, simply being a monopoly is not even considered illegal.
And to argue that having a single entity control a marketplace somehow forces prices higher is absolutely ridiculous when you compare the prices on the App Store to their desktop counterparts. Or compare the prices on the App Store to prices other app stores on other "open" platforms. It's not the users complaining, it's the developers who want a free ride on Apple's hard work.
Why Apple is even included in this group of companies is beyond me. Where’s Microsoft? Is this about mobile only, is it about services only. Is it about platforms? Last time I checked Microsoft’s Windows was still the dominant platform on the PC desktop.
And I completely understand why Google and Facebook should be looked at...both companies have spent the last decade buying up huge user account based properties in order to hoard as much data on as many people as they can. It boggles my mind how Apple was scrutinized over buying a company like Shazaam, and no one batted an eye over Facebook buying WhatsApp or even Instagram, or Google buying Waze or YouTube. All of them multi-billion dollar businesses on their own with hundreds of millions of users each.
If these bozos had any real backbone or wanted to do anything actually useful, they’d go after phone and cable companies.