Apple CEO Tim Cook participates today in an antitrust hearing with the United States House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee along with Alphabet / Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The hearing was supposed to start at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time, or 9:00 a.m. M., Pacific Time, but it was delayed from half an hour to an hour. It can be seen live through the previous YouTube broadcast.
Cook is expected to be questioned about Apple’s app store policies regarding app rejection and competition, disputes with the FBI over encryption, and police access to blocked devices, Apple’s relationship. with China and its “App Store” subscription rates and policies.
Cook was initially reluctant to participate in the hearing because he does not believe Apple should group with Facebook, Amazon, and Google as an antitrust infringer, but could not help but testify after the threat of a subpoena by subcommittee chairman David Cicilline, who publicly criticized the Apple App Store rates.
Over the course of the past month, Cook has been preparing for the audience, and last week Apple commissioned a third-party study on the App Store that found that the App Store rates were in line with those charged by other digital markets, Cook is likely to quote. Cook’s opening statement was shared yesterday and can be read here.
We’ll share the highlights of the antitrust hearing covering what Cook has to say, but those interested in a full picture of what is happening in the audience can see it live.
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