Apple Stock News: Trust-Buster Worries
Top Apple Stock News: On Thursday, June 24th, the House Judiciary Committee passed Pramila Jayapal’s antitrust legislation, which would put restrictions on big tech monopolies and change their anti-competitive behavior. This bill, called the Ending Platform Monopolies Act (H.R. 3825), will specifically “promote competition and economic opportunity in digital markets by eliminating the conflicts of interest that arise from dominant online platforms’ concurrent ownership or control of an online platform and certain other businesses.” Brought upon by the recent lawsuit with Epic Games Inc. maker of Fortnite, it will ultimately allow third-party apps on the IOS app store and for users to install apps from where they choose.
The company is taking the legislation seriously, CEO Tim Cook rang-up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in order to warn her of the potential implications, for which she assured that Congress will not overlook the massive market consolidation. The tech giant recently published a report ensuring the app “ecosystem” they have created keeps user’s privacy intact as well as protects its products from malware. Its biggest argument against the new bill is that it will lose control of the safety and security of its app store. There is truth to these sentiments, a report published by Nokia states that during 2020 IOS devices only accounted for 1.72% of mobile malware infections when compared to 26.64% from Android and 38.92% for Windows. Taken from the report:
Hybrid Work
Apple is adamant about transitioning its workers back to talking face-to-face. By Sept, 2021 remote positions will be extremely limited at the company and most will have to resume work in-person once again. In response, employees upset by the decision wrote a letter to the CEO, stating that many of them would have to quit in order to conform to this new policy and is evident of a large disagreement between the c-suite and employees about COVID concerns. In response, “For now, let me simply say that I look forward to seeing your faces,” Tim Cook said in closing. “I know I’m not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity and collaboration of our in-person meetings and the sense of community we’ve all built.”
IOS Updates
In other news, the new IOS beta has rolled out. Apple released its fourth IOS 14.7 beta to developers on Tuesday. The most notable changes is the ability to set timers on the HomePod from any apple device.
