Tim Cook Antitrust Hearing: Apple CEO Defends App Store, Escapes Extensive Questioning

Among the four tech giant CEOs who gave testimony Wednesday in front of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, Tim Cook of Apple seemed to garner the least attention. Most of the questions directed at Cook related to complaints about its App Store and its treatment of developers.

Members of the antitrust committee took Apple to task over accusations that it withholds access to the App Store for some developers and is inconsistent with its enforcement of rules for the platform. It was also accused by some of favoring larger companies over smaller ones when litigating similar apps.

“We care deeply about privacy and quality,” Cook said, rejecting these accusations. “We look at every app, but the rules apply evenly to everyone.”

Cook explained that around 84% of apps on the App Store pay no commission fees, while some either a 15% or 30% depending on the conditions they meet.

Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat from Georgia, asked why Amazon has been allowed to bypass in-app purchases and any sort of commission fees for its Prime Video app. The app recently allowed users to rent or buy movies and TV shows through the app directly, a privilege Johnson saw as special for the other tech giant.

Cook countered this by saying the system Amazon uses in its video app can be made available to any company that meets a certain standard. He did not specify what conditions meeting this standard would entail.

“There's competition for developers just like there's a competition for customers. And so competition for developers, they can write their apps for Android, or Windows, or Xbox, or PlayStation. We have fierce competition at the developer side and the customer side. Essentially, it's so competitive I'd describe it as a street fight for market share in the smartphone business,” Cook said, rejecting the accusations that his company does not face a meaningful level of competition.