Tech mogul Elon Musk has weighed in on the dispute between Apple and Epic Games, and he has chosen to side with Epic. Last week, Musk on Twitter denied having interacted with Apple CEO Tim Cook, while he was replying to a post that alleged that Musk was offering to take over as the CEO of the iPhone maker.
Denying that allegation, he dispelled any doubts regarding any such occurrence. In a tweet on the ongoing Epic Games vs Apple feud, Musk tweeted against Apple’s App Store policy, claiming that “Epic is right”.
“Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet,” Musk wrote.
Apple and Epic Games have been embroiled in a legal battle after Fortnite-developer Epic Games sued the iPhone maker for being allegedly unfair and anti-competitive by requiring developers to use only the App Store payment gateway for any in-app purchases of digital assets, and then charging a 30 per cent commission on it.
Epic Games had tried to violate this rule and add its own third-party payment gateway in its popular game Fortnite, shortly after which, Apple removed the game from App Store for breach of conditions.
Epic Games subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant, and in the ongoing legal battle, Apple said that it did not allow third-party app downloads because that could compromise the safety of iPhone for the users.
Shortly after Musk put out his tweet supporting Epic. Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted out a post targeting Apple. Sweeney wrote, taking a shot at him, “The Apple Tax is far more pernicious than many realise. ‘It only applies to digital goods accessible on iOS,’ they say — but in the future all physical goods will have a digital presence, and Apple will tax and gatekeep world commerce. Apple must be stopped.”
Google too has a similar policy and it also barred Fortnite from the Playstore, following Apple’s lead. Epic Games also sued Google. It will be interesting to note how the case pans out.