Elon Musk
Entrepreneur Elon Musk sided with Epic Games in a dispute between the company and Apple. The corresponding post appeared on Musk's Twitter.
The founder of Tesla and SpaceX stated that App Store fees are effectively a global tax on the internet. “Epic are right,” Musk concluded.
In a series of tweets, the American entrepreneur went on to criticize Apple. Musk explained that he loves and uses the products of the IT giant, but considers the fees of 30 percent too high. According to him, such a tax, which does not imply “any action on the part of Apple,” looks completely unreasonable. “Epic wouldn't handle in-game payments directly if it thought Apple's fees were fair,” Musk said.
The entrepreneur also noted that usually pressure from competitors helps to reduce commissions, but Apple and Android have a duopoly in the smartphone market. “The current tax of 30 percent levied by Apple is hidden from its users, otherwise it would have caused an outcry among them,” summed up the founder of Tesla and SpaceX.
At the end of July, Elon Musk accused Apple of dishonest actions in the market. The entrepreneur called the closed App Store “a walled garden used to beat competitors.”
In August 2020, Apple removed the developer profile of the popular game Fortnite Epic Games for implementing in-app payments bypassing App Store policies. In response, the game developers sued Tim Cook's company.
