Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has fingered Apple claiming their App Store fees are a tax on the Internet, he has also “categorically” denied claims that he had talks with Apple about taking over Tesla, he admits that he did once approach Apple for a meeting.
Apple has a reputation as a ‘dodgy’ brand when it comes to trying to rip off consumers resulting in the US business being fined hundreds of millions in the past.
Musk said that “Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet. Epic is right,” he said in a tweet.
FILE – In this March 14, 2019, file photo Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks before unveiling the Model Y at Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne, Calif. Musk says in an internal memo that Tesla has enough orders to set a record, but itâs having trouble shipping vehicles to the right locations.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
He was referring to Apple’s battle with Epic Games, who has alleged that the iPhone maker has abused its dominance in the market for mobile apps.
Epic broke Apple’s rules when it introduced its own in-app payment system in Fortnite to circumvent Apple’s commissions.
He has also taken a pot shot at Wall Street Journal journalist Tim Higgins who claims that Musk met with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss a potential merger.
Musk has described the claims as pure fantasy.
He said over the weekend that he never met with Apple about a potential takeover.
He was responding to an upcoming book that says Apple CEO Tim Cook called Musk in 2016 about taking over Tesla.
The book claims that merger discussions ended when Musk told Cook he’d like to replace him as Apple’s CEO as part of the deal. According to the story — revealed in a Los Angeles Times review of “Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century”, Cook then hung up the phone after uttering an expletive.
“Cook & I have never spoken or written to each other ever,” Musk said on Twitter.
“There was a point where I requested to meet with Cook to talk about Apple buying Tesla. There were no conditions of acquisition proposed whatsoever.”
Cook refused the meeting, Musk said. “Tesla was worth about 6% of today’s value,” he said. The statement reiterated remarks from last year, when Musk said Cook refused to take a meeting about acquiring Tesla.
Apple also denied the book’s anecdote and pointed to comments from Cook on a recent New York Times podcast. “You know, I’ve never spoken to Elon, although I have great admiration and respect for the company he’s built,” Cook said.
On Tesla’s call with Wall Street analysts earlier this week, Musk took shots at Apple, criticizing the company’s “walled garden” or its tightly controlled tech ecosystem and its usage of cobalt, a key mineral for making lithium-ion batteries.
