Apple CEO Tim Cook, when he takes the mic at the anti-trust hearing later tonight (IST), will be both aggressive and defensive.
In prepared remarks, which have been released, Cook says: "Apple does not have a dominant market share in any market where we do business. That is not just true for iPhone; it is true for any product category. The smartphone market is fiercely competitive and companies like Samsung, LG, Huawei, and Google have built very successful smartphone businesses offering different approaches."
"As much as we believe the iPhone provides the best user experience, we know it is far from the only choice available to consumers," Cook says in his testimony.
Having projected Apple in a seemingly less than flattering light of being in tough contest, Cook, however, goes on the front foot and says that Apple is not against competition.
"After beginning with 500 apps, today the App Store hosts more than 1.7 million--only 60 of which are Apple software. Clearly if Apple is a gatekeeper, what we have done is open the gate wider. We want to get every app we can on the Store, not keep them off," his testimony reads.
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The smartphone market is fiercely competitive and companies like Samsung, LG, Huawei, and Google have built very successful smartphone businesses offering different approaches.
Tim Cook
'Apple offers better option'
On the question of Apple’s 30% fee for digital transactions on the App Store, Cook's contention is Apple's rate is competitive. He says Apple offers a better option than what was available for software developers prior to when the App Store launched in 2008.
"Apple’s commissions are comparable or lower than commissions charged by the majority of our competitors. And they are vastly lower than the 50 to 70 percent that software developers paid to distribute their work before we launched the App Store,” Cook remarks read.
The App Store guidelines ensure a high-quality, reliable, and secure user experience. They are transparent and applied equally to developers of all sizes and in all categories. They are not set in stone. Rather, they have changed as the world has changed, and we work with developers to apply them fairly, he adds.
Apple controls the App Store with a firm hand. And this forms the centerpiece of its $46.3 billion-per-year services business. Developers have criticized Apple’s commissions of between 15% and 30% on many App Store purchases, its prohibitions on courting customers for outside signs-ups.
Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller, in an interview to Reuters, has held that Apple treats all apps in the App Store with the same rules.
Cook is one of the four technology CEOs who will appear in tonight's US House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing. Cook will be joined by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The opening remarks of the other three CEOs can be read here.
Source: Tim Cook Testimony.
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