Elon Musk’s reply to Spotify CEO’s tweet hints at future ‘trouble’ between Twitter and Apple – Times of India

The Elon Musk-Twitter – will they, won’t they – saga is about to reach its conclusion. It has been reported that Musk will complete his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and post that it’s literally open season. Why? Simply because no one knows what Musk’s going to do. Rumours suggest that after the takeover, several people including Twitter employees, political leaders, and even Apple could face some heat. The iPhone maker just updated its App Store policy according to which it will charge in-app fees for boosted posts. This has already irked Meta and Twitter might be next. In the latest development, Musk has shown his ‘concerns’ about the 30% cut that Apple takes from app developers.
Apple updated App Store policy
Apple updated its App Store policy, asking developers for a 30% cut on sales of ‘boosts’ for posts in a social media app. In layman’s terms, if a person ‘boosts’ or ‘promotes’ a post (which basically means advertise his/her post) for more reach on a social media app, Apple wants a 30% cut from the spending. Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram let users pay to boost their posts’ reach. The same also applies to Twitter.
Currently, Twitter follows Apple’s in-app purchase (IAP) rules to enable promotions on iOS apps, meaning the iPhone maker already gets its cut. However, if Musk closes the deal this week, he might not follow Apple’s IAP rules. Musk has already spoken out against the issue and that he is not okay that app developers having to pay a 30% cut to Apple.
In recent disapproval, the billionaire replied to a tweet by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in which the founder of the music streaming app accused Apple of continuing “to disadvantage competitors”.

Spotify accused Apple of ‘choking competition’
Spotify, which is already at odds with Apple for App Store tax, pointed out that the Cupertino-based company’s 30% cut of the in-app purchases “stand in the way of the company’s and other developers’ abilities to provide a seamless user experience, and its restrictions hurt both creators and consumers alike.”
Ek tweeted a story by the New York Times in which it said that Apple is in the way of Spotify that wants to taste success in its newly-launched Audiobooks business. “Concerning,” Musk replied to that tweet, suggesting he also disapproves of the 30% cut that Apple takes.

In another such development, entrepreneur Bill Lee, who has invested in SpaceX and Tesla, also tweeted, “Apple is working so hard to protect their monopoly… i mean ecosystem. charging 30% and forcing developers to adopt IAP is archaic.” To this, Musk replied, “30% is a lot.”

This is not the first time that Musk spoke publicly about this. News outlet Slashdot tweeted a report in which it was pointed out how PayPal helped spur EU antitrust complaint against Apple payments. “Apple’s store is like having a 30% tax on the Internet. Definitely not ok,” Musk replied.

Now it remains to be seen if and when Musk acquires Twitter whether the microblogging website continues to follow Apple’s IAP rules or will he move against the App Store tax like various others have.
Apple’s services business
Revenue from Services, which include the earnings from App Store, constitute a sizable chunk of Apple’s net revenue. In Q3 2022 earnings, Apple announced that it earned nearly $20 million from services alone. The product-based sales constituted almost $63,500 million of the total (nearly) $83,000 million quarterly revenue.
Apple will announce its Q4 2022 results on October 27.