Following last week’s U.S. Senate antitrust hearing attended by Apple’s Chief Compliance Officer Kyle Andeer, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has appeared on The Verge’s Decoder with Nilay Patel podcast. In the interview, Klobuchar discusses antitrust actions against “Big Tech,” including Apple’s App Store.
My guest today is Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Democrat from Minnesota who has taken up the role of antitrust enforcer in the Senate… as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights. In that role, she held a hearing last week focused on the power and control Apple and Google — but especially Apple — wield with their app stores.
Patel: Where do you think we are in the antitrust reform conversation right now?
Klobuchar: Okay. We’re in a place of mounting political interest, which is where you want to be when you want to have momentum, but where we’re not is actually getting things done yet… We found out how Apple, they’ve been charging 30 percent to companies like Spotify, but not to Uber. And the reason given to [Sen.] Mike Lee was, “Well, that’s because that’s cars and rides.” So, I think there’s some real problems in this because of monopoly power.
Patel: People write to me and they say, “Stop trying to ruin my Apple stuff. I want Apple to be in control of this ecosystem because I trust them and I pay a premium for it.” Do you think that this kind of antitrust enforcement will harm that? Do you think it will help it? What is the mechanism by which it will actually make the products better?
Klobuchar: I don’t think it’ll harm it one bit. You’re still holding them accountable for all kinds of things on the iPhone, in the product, to make sure it works. They’re making a lot of money off of other stuff and they’re always adding different things. Okay, that’s all good.
But the point is, that we have gotten to this point when they control this whole app market; So basically, you used to go to websites for everything. Everyone has a website, they mostly do now. But as the Match people described, the app stores have basically taken over the internet in a lot of ways. People are spending an average of four hours a day in the app stores. You could still have a successful Apple, but still demand more consumer protections to make it easier for people to compete…
Why are we doing this hearing? Clearly, some antitrust subcommittee hearings might not get all this attention… That’s why Mike Lee and I came out of that saying, okay, we can do a sweeping thing. We can maybe do [the] app store thing. States can do it, but we’ve got to start moving. So out of that comes action. We’re not just going to have these hearings just to have hearings.
Patel: For people who are paying attention to this, a lot of tech executives, policy people listen to the show, what should they be looking for next? What’s the next turn?
Klobuchar: Realize what’s coming here. Well, maybe they can adjust their app store terms.
Patel: Would that stop it? This is a real thing. People say even the threat of regulation causes better conduct. Would that stop it if Apple said, it’s 15 percent?
Klobuchar: I would just like to point out — they’ve been super arrogant about some of this stuff. Right? You can see it in the emails, you can see it in how they treat companies… But they should really look at some of the fiscal terms and what they’re doing. So that’s what I would suggest… And do not rule out or refuse to give a witness and then Mike Lee and I spend three days learning all about this, because we’ve got to write a letter to Tim Cook. That didn’t work very well for them.
MacDailyNews Take: People spend an average of four hours a day in the App Store. M’kay. (sigh)
The rest of her pitifully clueless twaddle made even less sense.
By they way, here’s the Worldwide Mobile Operating System Market Share breakdown (StatCounter, March 2021):
• Android – 71.83%
• iOS – 27.41%
I don’t think anybody reasonable is going to come to the conclusion that Apple is a monopoly. Our share is much more modest. We don’t have a dominant position in any market… We are not a monopoly. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, June 2019
See also: Apple cuts App Store fees in half for most developers – November 20, 2020
Amy Klobuchar’s brain scan results:
No, that’s Biden’s scan result. Klobuchar’s is full of SpaghettiOs marinating in unicorn tears.
Klobuchar is a woke idiot. I have not spent four hours in the App Store in four years…
“I would just like to point out — they’ve been super arrogant about some of this stuff. Right? You can see it in the emails, you can see it in how they treat companies… But they should really look at some of the fiscal terms and what they’re doing.”
People should see how terms are negotiated in other parts of the economy. Real estate? Hollywood? Auto parts? Concert tours? Cement contracts?
Do you think Kolbuchar’s or other Democratic staffs are ‘lobbying’ (shaking down) Apple for contributions designed to blunt the current Congress’ regulatory impulses? What a great way to raise campaign contributions.
MDN Take:
• Android – 71.83%
• iOS – 27.41%
It’s not about percentage numbers and who has the greater amount.
In this Biden Clown World, it’s about EQUITY!
C’mon man.
App Stores for iOS: Apple 100%
So? Apple invented apps and the store that competitors copied. You don’t like their legal terms, go elsewhere…
Totally false.
Software repositories, Mobileplanet, Handango, PPC4All, Palm Store and literally dozens of others going back to shareware and PDA Apps. All pre-
So what’s the problem, tons of competitors to the App Store. Shareware and App Store are DIFFERENT…
Most of these are now defunct, but predated the Apple App store, and none would be able to sell iOS applications.
These are applications Apple does not own, and it also doesn’t own the devices. This is the problem.
Right, Apple does not own the Apps or Phone — BUT are a broker selling Apps and charging a commission…
@GoeB
A mandatory, censoring broker…
I wish in one of the interviews the interviewer would call them out on some of this stupidity like spending 4 hour on the app store. These people in Government are really uninformed on reality. If you sign up through Spotify then Apple does not get a 30% cut so you have a choice.
Now follow that up by allowing iOS users the choice to install the Spotify App directly from Spotify.
Democrat from Minnesota
Demonrat trying to destroy America. No surprise
Never mind 4 hours, I would love to spend 4 minutes in a competing iOS Store. Seems it’s coming.
Hold your breath
Then he can’t breathe!
What, too soon?
You know what else causes you to not be able to breathe?
Swallowing methamphetamine and fentanyl in an attempt to hide it from police arresting you for trying to pass counterfeit bills.
In other words, being a real winner.
Fentanyl is a powerful anesthetic that is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Even a small does can lead to an inability to breathe and result in death.
Fact free idiot: your lies were just disproved in a court of law.
So sorry your too stupid to understand what really happened!
I know what state you live in: The State of Delusion.
Fentanyl Floyd drowned himself in fentanyl, meth, etc.
Click to access floyd-autopsy-6-3-20.pdf
As goeb says LIAR LIAR LIAR,
The courts are corrupted and libturds like you are too f’ing stupid to see it.
46-year-old man who became unresponsive while being murdered by a bad cop.
So the drugs had NOTHING to do with his death?…
I wouldn’t have done that to a bound dog!
Deplorable!
But you also wouldn’t have had the bound dog arguing with you and resisting your attempts to put him in a squad car. Sorry, but Floyd brought that on himself. The way he was held down was wrong, but I’m sure the thinking at the time was to keep pressure on him until he settled down and was compliant. Only those who think we should have no laws can’t see that.
@ckh
He was fully restrained, cuffed, on the ground, surrounded by 4 cops. Did they cut off his airway to save their ears?