The conflιcт between Elon Musk and Apple took place and ended quickly in just one week. On November 28, Twitter’s boss expressed displeasure when the technology group cut ads on Twitter, threatened to ban Twitter on the App Store, and criticized the 30% share of their profits.
The bιllιonaire even questioned whether Apple had an aversion to free speech and suggested that the next victim could be his electric car company Tesla.
However, after only 2 days, Musk was invited by Tim Cook to Apple headquarters. Apple CEO confirmed there are no plans to remove Twitter from the App Store. On December 3, during a broadcast on the Twitter Spaces feature, Elon Musk said Apple had restored all ads on Twitter.
Apple is Twitter’s “fishing rod”
According to Bloomberg, publicly criticizing Apple means Musk is declaring waг on the corporation that can determine the fate of Twitter. Apple is currently one of the most important advertising partners, bringing in more than $100 million in ad revenue to the social networking platform.
Specifically, the Washington Post said that in the first quarter of 2022, Apple spent $ 48 million to buy ads on Twitter, becoming the largest partner of the social network. The amount accounted for more than 4% of the company’s total revenue for that quarter.
Therefore, in order to maintain a good partnership with the US technology group, Twitter also has a team that only deals with them, an inside source said.
However, since Musk acquired Twitter, Apple has gradually reduced advertising purchases on this social network. According to data from analytics firm Pathmatics, ad spend on Twitter from November 10-16 reached $131,600, much lower than the $220,800 figure on October 16-22 before Musk acquired Twitter.
“Elon Musk was too reckless and Apple probably won’t ignore this,” said Lou Paskalis, director of marketing and communications.
In addition, Apple also opened a large portal, bringing Twitter closer to users through the App Store. Therefore, if Twitter is banned from the App Store, the application will not be able to reach the more than 1.5 bιllιon devices using the Apple ecosystem globally.
iPhone and iPad users won’t be able to get the Twitter app, and users who currently use the social network won’t be able to update the softwaгe either. This will add to the pressure on Twitter after a series of advertising partners leaving the platform, massive employee layoffs and government scrutiny of Elon Musk’s free speech plans.
However, the bιllιonaire also takes part of the advantage if he really declares waг on Apple, Bloomberg said. His stance of promoting free speech and criticizing the 30% fee will be supported by many people, including programmers, legislators and governments.
On the flip side, Apple also depends on Twitter because it doesn’t buy ads on Facebook. The American corporation often meets with the Twitter leadership team every week to resolve some of the outstanding issues between the two sides. CEO Tim Cook also continued to use Twitter even after the social network passed to Elon Musk.
Elon Musk repeatedly aggrеssιvе with Apple
As for the Tesla CEO, he once threatened to create his own smartphone if Apple and Google dared to remove Twitter from the app store. This idea has been supported by many people, making “Tesla phone” a prominent keyword on Twitter on November 28.
The richest man on the planet also frankly criticized Apple for charging unreasonable fees. He continuously posted a series of memes that were meant to condemn Apple, in which the highlight was a photo with the content that instead of accepting 30% tax, the bιllιonaire chose to “make waг”.
This implies that he will probably follow Epic Games, the game company that has sued Apple in court because of its unreasonable fee policy. Bloomberg believes that the bιllιonaire will sell the Twitter Blue service through an external link to avoid paying a 30% fee to Apple.
But the problem is that if Twitter advertises these rules in the application or adds a new button that leads users to an external payment website, Apple will easily “grab the neck” and remove the social network from the App Store.
In another post, the bιllιonaire called Apple and Google the two monopolists in the mobile app store market. This view has been supported by Representative Ken Buck of the antitrust division of the US House Judiciary Committee and shared on his personal page, asking the two technology companies to end this monopoly before 2023. “No one has the right to wield such great power in the market,” he said.
On the contrary, Apple has also repeatedly emphasized on its strict regulations on the app store, banning all offеnsιvе content such as racism, religion and s**ual orientation or flagging violent products. forceful, eroтιc.
Before that, Apple and Google used to forcefully delete social networks if they did not comply with their regulations. For example, Parler has been blocked from all app stores for containing content that incites violence. This social network then had to commit to strict content moderation before it was restored on the platforms.
Tim Cook is clever
With the initial attitude of Elon Musk, it is suгргιsing that Tim Cook has settled all the scanԀals in just two days. He invited Elon Musk to Apple headquarters to ease the tension between the two companies. “The meeting went very well. We resolved the misunderstanding that Twitter was likely to be removed from the App Store,” Musk wrote on Twitter after the meeting.
Sharing with the Financial Times, a 10-year veteran of Apple said that he was not suгргιseԀ by Tim Cook’s solution. “Definitely Tim Cook has successfully won over Elon Musk,” he said.
This employee said that during the meeting at Apple Park, Cook listened to everything Musk said and also expressed his own perspective. “Tim Cook is the type of person who will roll up his sleeves and rush to solve any problem. He does not like to get involved in noise whether it is a media scanԀal or leads to a lawsuit. Tim Cook is not like Elon Musk,” Apple employee shared.
“What he’s best at is understanding that he needs to take care of everything, get along well with all areas without favoring anyone,” said Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.