- Apple CEO Tim Cook released his opening statement ahead of the landmark technology antitrust hearing before the House Judiciary Antitrust subcommittee on Wednesday.
- Cook will appear alongside Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and CEO Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, as part of an investigation into the power and influence of companies in the industry. of technology.
- Cook’s opening statement defended Apple, stating that the company “does not have a dominant market share in any market in which we do business.”
- The App Store has come under scrutiny amid “growing concern among lawmakers that the company’s App Store, and a broader app ecosystem, is hurting developers,” according to Hugh Langley and Aaron Holmes of Business Insider.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Apple CEO Tim Cook released his opening statement Tuesday, ahead of the landmark tech antitrust hearing before Congress, which will also feature CEOs of Google, Facebook and Amazon.
The CEOs of the four tech giants will appear before the House Judiciary Antimonopoly subcommittee on Wednesday as part of an investigation into their power and influence in the tech industry.
Cook’s opening statement defended Apple, stating that the company “does not have a dominant market share in any market in which we do business.”
“That is not just true for iPhone; it is true for any product category,” Cook wrote in the opening statement.
The App Store has come under scrutiny amid “growing concern among lawmakers that the company’s App Store, and a broader app ecosystem, is hurting developers,” according to Hugh Langley and Aaron Holmes of Business Insider.
“The App Store is Apple’s second largest revenue generator after the iPhone, but Apple’s own apps are not subject to the same rules as third-party ones, and it has long been argued that this gives Apple another advantage. unfair on competition, “according to the report.
However, Cook stated that for a “vast majority of applications” on the App Store, developers keep all earnings per sale, and “the only applications that are subject to a commission are those in which the developer acquires a customer in an Apple device and where the features or services would be experienced and consumed on an Apple device. “
“Apple’s commissions are comparable to or less than the commissions charged by most of our competitors,” continued the Apple CEO. “And they’re far less than the 50 to 70% that software developers paid to distribute their work before launching the App Store.”
He went on to state that the company’s commission rate “never increased” or added a “one-time fee.” Instead, Cook said Apple “cut them down for subscriptions and exempted additional categories of apps.”
“The App Store evolves with the times, and every change we’ve made has been in the direction of providing a better experience for our users and a compelling business opportunity for developers,” he wrote, citing “over 1.9 million American jobs. in all 50 states they are attributable to the ecosystem of the App Store. “
“I am here today because the scrutiny is responsible and appropriate,” Cook said in his planned opening statement. “We approach this process with respect and humility. But we do not compromise on the facts.”
