“Apple is taking a bruising in Washington, and insiders say there’s a reason: It’s the one place in the world where the company hasn’t built its brand,” David Saleh Rauf and Jonathan Allen write for Politico.
“In the first three months of this year, Google and Microsoft spent a little more than $7 million on lobbying and related federal activities combined,” Rauf and Allen write. “Apple spent $500,000 — even less than it spent the year before… Unlike Facebook, Google and Microsoft, Apple has no political action committee. And while Google and Microsoft have aggressive news media operations in Washington, Apple doesn’t. That standoffish approach to D.C. may have worked fine in the Steve Jobs era, but the charismatic leader’s death last year left Apple without its reality distortion field.”
Rauf and Allen write, “The company’s attitude toward D.C. — described by critics as ‘don’t bother us’ — has left it without many inside-the-Beltway friends. And that means Apple is mostly on its own when the Justice Department goes after it on e-books, when members of Congress attack it over its overseas tax avoidance or when an alphabet soup of regulators examine its business practices. ‘I never once had a meeting with anybody representing Apple,’ said Jeff Miller, who served as a senior aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee for eight years. ‘There have been other tech companies who chose not to engage in Washington, and for the most part that strategy did not benefit them.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Translation: Grease those greedy D.C. palms and life will get easier for you, Apple.
Related articles:
U.S. DOJ bites Apple: The 30% revenue-share model is Apple’s standard practice, not a conspiracy – April 23, 2012
Apple, publishers face class action lawsuit alleging eBook price-fixing in Canada – April 20, 2012
Apple desires federal trial vs. U.S. DOJ over eBook price-fixing – April 18, 2012
Apple vs. Amazon: Who’s really fixing eBook prices? – April 17, 2012
Apple: U.S. DOJ’s accusation of collusion against iBookstore is simply not true – April 12, 2012
Apple not likely to be a loser in legal fight over eBooks – April 12, 2012
16 U.S. states join DOJ’s eBook antitrust action against Apple, publishers – April 12, 2012
Australian gov’t considers suing Apple, five major publishers over eBook pricing – April 12, 2012
DOJ’s panties in a bunch over Apple and eBooks, but what about Amazon? – April 12, 2012
Antitrust experts: Apple likely to beat U.S. DOJ, win its eBook lawsuit – April 12, 2012
Why the market shrugged off the Apple antitrust suit – April 11, 2012
What’s wrong with the U.S. DOJ? – April 11, 2012
Macmillan CEO blasts U.S. DOJ; gov’t on verge of killing real competition for appearance of competition – April 11, 2012
U.S. DOJ hits Apple,major publishers with antitrust lawsuit, alleges collusion on eBook prices – April 11, 2012
I believe Apple is on the right path. Look at their economic efficiency in research and development, they spend much less than other PC companies and achieve far greater ROI on the results. They have an economic presence in every state either by their stores or by proxy with resellers. I suspect if we did a true cost benefit analysis of the causes that Apple want to effect on society vs the method, Apple probably already came to the conclusion that political lobbying is the most inefficient and ineffective way. If you haven’t broken any laws, you make great products and provide great customer service. Lobbying would contribute very little to the bolstering and enhancement of Apple’s core values so why do it. Every industry that does it has an ulterior motive, either to get out of paying some fine for wrong doing or to gain some kind of competing advantage for your industry. While it may be true that our current system of governance would not go out of its way to do any special favors for Apple, they can’t legally or morally take any more of Apple’s money that they are entitled to.
PLEASE DO NOT SPEND any of our shareholder money on Wash. D. C. Slime. PLEASE.
Translation? Pay up or suffer the wrath of Congress! Apple plays by the rules – if you don’t like the results, then change the rules. But quit whining about it.
Apple suitably wants nothing to do with the Corporate Oligarchy approach to ruining the USA. No wonder I like Apple.
Ours is a sick and self-destructive culture where you have to play suicidal financial and political games or the ‘Confidence Cons’ come and get you.
F*cked companies.
F*cked government.
Stick to the Apple way please!
Let the Corporate Oligarchy eat itself alive.
They’ve been doing a brilliant job of it so far.
I’m personally happy that Apple has both the balls and the bills not to kowtow to this protection racket.