Elon Musk shows support for Fortnite's maker Epic Games in battle against Apple

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on July 30 showed his support for Fortnite's maker Epic Games, which has challenged Apple Inc’s fees on its App Store. While taking to Twitter, Musk said that Apple’s fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet. He said that Epic Games, which has been alleging that the iPhone maker has abused its dominance in the market for mobile apps, is “right”. 

Epic Games had filed a suit against Apple last summer after its hit game Fortnite was pulled from Apple's App Store. Apple says that it pulled the game because Epic violated the terms of its developer agreement when it implemented a payment system in the game that enabled players to circumvent Apple's App Store. Epic, on the other hand, says that the App Store is a monopoly and that iPhones and iPads are no different from computers.

Meanwhile, in a separate tweet, Musk denied a report that he once had a chat with Apple boss Tim Cook related to a possible acquisition of the electric-car-maker and taking over as the iPhone maker's CEO. Musk clarified that no such conversation had taken place. The Tesla CEO, however, accepted that an Apple-Tesla deal was once in the talks, but Tim Cook had “refused to meet him”. This was when Tesla was just a small name and only 6 per cent of its value today. 

Musk criticises Apple’s usage of cobalt 

Moreover, this week, Musk even criticised Apple’s "walled garden" or its tightly controlled tech ecosystem and its usage of cobalt, a key mineral for making lithium-ion batteries. On Tesla's call with Wall Street analysts, when Musk was asked about Tesla's supply chain, the billionaire said that his clean energy company uses no cobalt in the iron-phosphate packs and negligible in the nickel-based chemistries, CNBC reported. He, however, targeted Apple and alleged that the tech giant uses 100% cobalt in their batteries, laptops and cell phones.

Musk also targeted Apple’s App Store policy calling it "walled garden", which is named so because of the company's strong policy on what software can be installed on the iPhone. He also asserted that the supercharger network should grow globally. He said that the vehicle out is currently growing at a "hell of a rate". The superchargers need to grow faster, he said.

(Image: AP/Unsplash)