NYU professor, Silicon Valley expert, and author Scott Galloway recently outlined seven antitrust-related questions that Apple CEO Tim Cook could be asked when he appears before Congress this week.
9to5Mac reports that the NYU professor and author Professor Cott Galloway recently outlined antitrust questions that he believes Apple CEO Tim Cook should be asked when appearing before Congress on Wednesday of this week. The Apple CEO will be appearing before the House Judiciary Committee alongside the chief executives of other Silicon Valley companies including Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Galloway is the author of The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, and has extensive experience documenting the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe and their business practices.
In a blog post, Galloway lists a number of antitrust questions that should be asked of all the tech firms appearing before congress before focusing on the questions that should be posed to Apple specifically. These questions include whether the tech CEO’s would be worried that their companies have added greater market capitalization in the past five years than largest retailers and CPG firms have in total, and if the CEO’s were public servants would it worry them that a few companies had dominated such a large portion of the market.
Specifically discussing Apple, Galloway suggested that Cook be asked the following questions:
Q: Mr. Cook, monopoly rent is when a monopoly producer lacks competition and thus can sell its goods and services at a price far above what the otherwise competitive market price would be, at the expense of consumers. Our information age is often called “the app economy,” denoting how important apps have become to commerce and consumption. Your firm and Google dominate the app ecosystem, with 62% and 38% shares, respectively. Every media company that wants to reach a consumer online must pay you a toll or rent. Do you think any of these firms believe that paying you this rent is a choice?
Q: Apple TV+ is offering consumers $1 billion in original content for every .80c a month the consumer spends on your Apple TV+ streaming video service. Isn’t it your opportunity to differentiate your $1,300 phones and fund Apple TV+ from the revenues of an unrelated product that allows you to offer a media product at well below cost? In sum, isn’t Apple guilty of “dumping,” that is, buying market share with unfeasibly low prices?
Q: Spotify is consistently rated as a superior music service to your Apple Music, yet Apple Music is growing faster than Spotify in the US. Isn’t this a function of you owning the rails, and being able to levy a 30% tax on a competitor while illegally reducing their discoverability in the app store?
The hearing before congress is set to take place this Wednesday on July 29 starting at 12:00 p.m. Due to the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic, many of the CEO’s will be giving their testimony via video link.
Breitbart News will report on the hearing as they occur.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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