On Friday, CEO Facebook took a swing at Apple calling Apple’s App Store monopolistic and harmful to users. According to a report published by BuzzFeed News, Mark Zuckerberg said that Apple has a ‘stranglehold’ on apps available in Apple App Store during a company-wide meeting. It allows the company to ‘charge monopoly rents.’ Zuckerberg used the meeting as a way to criticize Apple’s control over the iPhone and its app store. In a live video address to over 50,000 Facebook employees, Mark Zuckerberg said that the tech giant has this unique stranglehold as a gatekeeper on what gets on iPhones.
Facebook CEO added that Apple’s control over Apple App Store block innovation and competition and allows it to charge monopoly rents. He said that that’s innovation could improve the lives of people and the tech giant is just balking at it. According to the report, Facebook CEO was particularly asked about Apple’s recent decision to block some gaming apps from its App Store including the Facebook Gaming app and Microsoft xCloud. Apple explained that it rejected those apps since App Store policies do not allow third-party applications to distribute games as a separate platform.
Facebook CEO also criticized the privacy changes in iOS 14 that will make it challenging for companies such as Facebook to track consumers across various websites and apps. The social media giant has also criticized this privacy change in public and warned its marketers of the potential impacts. Lastly, Mark Zuckerberg also gave his two cents on the ongoing battle between Fortnite creator Epic Games and Apple. Epic Games released a new update that allowed consumers to bypass the payment system of Apple and pay Epic Games directly. Apple removed Fortnite from Apple App Store after this update was rolled out, and threatened to prohibit access to Unreal Engine. Zuckerberg said that Apple’s decision to cut off Unreal Engine was ‘quite problematic’ and an ‘extremely aggressive move.’
Recently, a judge ruled that Apple can continue to block Fortnite since Epic Games breach its agreement with Apple, but Apple cannot block Unreal Engine. On Thursday, the social media giant told Reuters that Apple had stopped the company from informing users that Apple would charge a 30% commission fee on all in-app purchases made in the Facebook application. Apple forced Facebook to remove the message to get the tool to consumers. Apple cited an App Store role that prohibits developers from displaying ‘irrelevant’ information. After BuzzFeed published the report, the social media giant made the video of that company-wide meeting public.
Images: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Read next: Canada Leads Per Capita Mobile App Spending Growth During The Pandemic, The Average In-App Spending Per Person Increased 39% During The First Half Of This Year
Facebook CEO added that Apple’s control over Apple App Store block innovation and competition and allows it to charge monopoly rents. He said that that’s innovation could improve the lives of people and the tech giant is just balking at it. According to the report, Facebook CEO was particularly asked about Apple’s recent decision to block some gaming apps from its App Store including the Facebook Gaming app and Microsoft xCloud. Apple explained that it rejected those apps since App Store policies do not allow third-party applications to distribute games as a separate platform.
Facebook CEO also criticized the privacy changes in iOS 14 that will make it challenging for companies such as Facebook to track consumers across various websites and apps. The social media giant has also criticized this privacy change in public and warned its marketers of the potential impacts. Lastly, Mark Zuckerberg also gave his two cents on the ongoing battle between Fortnite creator Epic Games and Apple. Epic Games released a new update that allowed consumers to bypass the payment system of Apple and pay Epic Games directly. Apple removed Fortnite from Apple App Store after this update was rolled out, and threatened to prohibit access to Unreal Engine. Zuckerberg said that Apple’s decision to cut off Unreal Engine was ‘quite problematic’ and an ‘extremely aggressive move.’
Recently, a judge ruled that Apple can continue to block Fortnite since Epic Games breach its agreement with Apple, but Apple cannot block Unreal Engine. On Thursday, the social media giant told Reuters that Apple had stopped the company from informing users that Apple would charge a 30% commission fee on all in-app purchases made in the Facebook application. Apple forced Facebook to remove the message to get the tool to consumers. Apple cited an App Store role that prohibits developers from displaying ‘irrelevant’ information. After BuzzFeed published the report, the social media giant made the video of that company-wide meeting public.
Images: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Read next: Canada Leads Per Capita Mobile App Spending Growth During The Pandemic, The Average In-App Spending Per Person Increased 39% During The First Half Of This Year
