In the process of denying he asked Tim Cook to be CEO of Apple during an alleged conversation about a Tesla acquisition, Elon Musk has turned his attention to Apple’s App Store, saying Epic Games is right and that Apple holds a “de facto global tax on the Internet.”
Shortly after news broke about a new book that claims Musk wanted to become CEO of Apple and Cook telling him to “f– off,” Musk shared a few tweets denying the claim and reiterating that he and Cook haven’t ever spoken or written to each other.
However, Musk didn’t stop there. He continued the conversation about Apple on Twitter, but shifted to the debate around Apple’s App Store commission and didn’t pull any punches.
As the basis of why he believes “Epic is right” Musk said, “Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet.”
Epic Games brought a high-profile lawsuit against Apple over the way it runs the App Store and doesn’t allow things like app stores within apps or alternate ways to take payment for digital goods which means developers paying 15 or 30% commission to Apple.
Musk’s comments are in line with Epic’s stance that iOS has become an “essential facility.” However, Apple fought that claim by saying that Epic’s hit game Fortnite only made up 10% of total revenue.
Apple also argues that consumers have the choice to use Android or other platforms if they’re not happy with iOS and the App Store.
A ruling in the US Epic vs Apple lawsuit is yet to be determined but we recently learned that the Epic vs Apple suit in Australia is moving ahead after previously being paused.
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