Elon Musk Joins The Anti-Apple Coalition

NASA Administrator Visits SpaceX HQ (NHQ201910100025)

A new member of the anti-Apple coalition made themselves known on Monday – none other than Chief Twit Elon Musk. He tweeted that Apple was threatening to pull the Twitter app from the App Store and was not explaining why. (At the time of writing, he had not provided any evidence to back up his claim.) If this were actually to happen, and for now I’m extremely doubtful, it would obviously be a huge blow to Twitter. 

Musk also joined in complaints about the so-called “Apple Tax” which sees the company take a 30% cut of in-app purchases. It also implement rules that, for most apps, ban subscriptions and payments being processed outside the purview of the App Store.

Whatever the conclusion, as Reuters pointed out, the row puts Musk on the same side as the likes of “Fortnite”-maker Epic Games and Spotify. Both firms have taken huge issue with the “Apple Tax”. Indeed, the standoff between Epic and Apple got to such a point that “Fortnite” is no longer available on iOS. 

Amidst a tirade of Tweets on Monday, Musk retweeted the video Epic made mocking Apple’s famous “1984” Super Bowl advert.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also retweeted Musk’s claims against Apple. The coalition, then, looks to be growing. Interestingly though, today Ek seemed a bit more reticent in teaming up with the controversial billionaire. He tweeted a thread outlining the complaints against Apple without actually mentioning the Twitter/SpaceX/Tesla boss.

Ek has been fighting this battle for a long time. Both he and Epic Games have had a significant impact on the debate. It is perhaps not surprising that he is somewhat nervous about getting too close to Musk, which might lead them into trick PR waters.

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