ReutersApr 10, 2021 2:15:46 AM
From Paresh Dave
(Reuters) – Apple Inc refuses to testify at an upcoming Senate subcommittee hearing on competition issues related to mobile app stores, the panel’s bipartisan chairmen said Friday.
App makers have long accused Apple’s App Store for iPhones and iPads, as well as Google’s Play Store for Android devices, of anticompetitive behavior by demanding certain revenue-sharing payments and imposing strict inclusion rules. A hearing of the subcommittee was scheduled for the end of April, but a date has not yet been set.
Senators Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and Mike Lee, a Republican, said they wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday urging the company to reconsider.
“Just over two weeks before the scheduled hearing, Apple abruptly announced that there would be no witness,” the letter said. “Apple’s sudden change of course in refusing to testify … is unacceptable.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple and game maker Epic Games are expected to discuss these issues in a federal trial starting May 3 in California.
A Klobuchar spokeswoman did not immediately comment on whether Google or other companies had agreed to testify at the planned subcommittee hearing.
Google has agreed to testify at the hearing, a source said. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
This story was not edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by automatic feed.
