Mark Zuckerberg slams App Store policies but Musk makes up with Apple

Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive of Meta Platforms Inc., said today at the DealBook Summit that Apple Inc.’s status as the gatekeeper of its app marketplace is not good for anyone but Apple.

“If you look at all the major competing platforms that have been around — iOS, Android, Windows — Apple stands out,” explained Zuckerberg (pictured). “It’s the only one where a company can control which apps get on the device. I don’t think it’s sustainable or good.”

This wasn’t the first time Zuckerberg had criticized Apple’s business model, and it probably won’t be the last. He further outlined why Google LLC had a much better business model, explaining that it allows more freedom with its Android devices.

“They’ve always done it so you can sideload and have other app stores and work directly with phone makers,” he said. “That was also our commitment, how we built our VR and what we want to do with our AR headsets.”

Firing arrows at how Apple does business seems like a hobby for tech bosses these days. Just yesterday, Twitter Inc.’s new owner, Elon Musk, hinted that he and Apple CEO Tim Cook were locked in some kind of war with each other. He claimed that Apple threatened to remove Twitter from the App Store, after which Musk’s followers began talking to the public and politicians about the end of free speech in America.

If there was a war, it was one of the shortest on record. Today, Musk took to Twitter to tell his brothers that he had just been given a tour of Apple’s campus in Cupertino and that he and Cook had kissed and reconciled. “We resolved the misconception that Twitter might be removed from the App Store,” Musk said tweeted. “Tim was aware that Apple had never considered this.” The two apparently had a “good conversation”.

Zuckerberg may have felt encouraged by the fact that Cook has fought on two fronts, and commenting on Musk’s new deal, he said, “It’s going to be very interesting to see how that plays out in terms of the approaches he’s taking. He added, “I would suspect that not everything will work, but I think some things could work.”

Zuckerberg also spoke about the Metaverse. He has been criticized in the recent past for throwing too much on his metaverse dream. His investors also warned him not to put all his eggs in one basket. At today’s conference, Zuckerberg said the Metaverse is “not the bulk of what we do” and that the main focus, as always, is “social media.”

Photo: Anthony Quintano/Flickr