Apple Inc. is the second most valuable company in the world, approaching a $3 trillion market capitalization. Roughly 64% of Americans own an Apple product, meaning the company has massive amounts of data, and control, over the lives of hundreds of millions of people. But, the company also acts as a gatekeeper to the millions of businesses that use the Apple platform, giving it considerable control over businesses around the world.
For example, Apple charges a 30% fee on nearly every transaction for digital goods on the Apple app store. If you buy digital currency, game skins, movies or any other digital product on the Apple App Store, you are subject to this 30% fee. This has caused many of the largest names in the world to cut or amend their pricing to all because of this massive fee.
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In 2018, Netflix Inc. halted all new subscriptions using Apple's App Store billing as the giant wanted a 30% cut and wouldn't let new users transact outside of Apple. After regulatory pressures and lawsuits, Apple eventually allowed Netflix users to circumvent the 30% fee by directing them to the Netflix website. Netflix subscribers haven't been able to subscribe to Netflix using the App Store billing since 2018, but many remained on their pre-2018 plans, meaning Apple took their fees. Last month, Netflix announced it would be forcing some users to change their billing method away from the App Store or risk their accounts being closed.
Amazon.com Inc. went through a similar issue with its Prime Video services, before cutting a deal to integrate with AppleTV to avoid the hefty fee.
One of the most outspoken critics of this policy is Fortnite creator and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. Sweeney, an outspoken Apple critic for years, recently sued the tech giant. The company sells billions of dollars in digital goods per year on Fortnite, meaning the company pays millions in fees for those who play the game on mobile devices. Despite attempts to circumvent the issue, Apple has maintained a strong grip on Epic and others.
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The legal battle has continued on several fronts. The European Union recently passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to help level the playing field for people like Epic against Apple. Epic planned to launch a competitor to the App Store, which resulted in Epic Games's developer account being banned. After some challenges under the DMA from the EU, Apple reinstated the account shortly after.
While this led to Sweeney touting the battle as "victory" on X, it led Y Combinator Co-Founder Paul Graham to comment with a larger question: Is Apple evil?
Graham's post stated, "Apple just terminated Epic’s developer account, and they admitted that this tweet was one of the reasons. We don’t want to think about Apple being evil. It would be so inconvenient. We don’t want to switch to Android. But I see ever more signs that power has corrupted them."
The post in question was from Sweeney stating:
Apple leadership faces some massive decisions in the coming weeks as the contradictions between their stated principles and the intended and actual consequences of their present policies are reckoned with: the app store monopoly, the digital goods payments monopoly, the tax, the suppression of true information about competing purchasing options, the blocking of competing web browser engines and outright destruction of web apps. It doesn't have to be this way. Apple is a few bold and visionary decisions away from being the company they once were and that they still advertise themselves to be: beloved brand to consumers, partner to developers and overlord to none."
Many find it concerning that, despite the massive resources Epic Games has at its disposal Apple is still able to assert incredible control over the multibillion-dollar corporation.
While corporations increasingly aren't fond of Apple, consumers love the brand. The average American owns 2.6 Apple products, with the majority of Americans having a favorable perception of the brand.
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