Elon Musk Sues Apple, Apple Eyeing JPMorgan Chase for Apple Card, Keep an Eye on JPMorgan Chase
Happy Wednesday. Let’s keep things going with three more stories that jumped out at me.
Elon Musk Sues Apple
Here's Ars Technica:
“After a public outburst over Grok’s App Store rankings, on Monday, Elon Musk followed through on his threat to sue Apple and OpenAI.
At first, Musk appeared fixated on ChatGPT consistently topping Apple's ‘Must Have’ app list—which Grok has never made—claiming Apple seemed to preference OpenAI, an Apple partner, over all chatbot rivals. But Musk's filing shows that the X and xAI owner isn't just trying to push for more Grok downloads on iPhones—he's concerned that Apple and OpenAI have teamed up to completely dash his ‘everything app’ dreams, which was the reason he bought Twitter.
At this point appearing to be genuinely panicked about OpenAI's insurmountable lead in the chatbot market, Musk has specifically alleged that an agreement integrating ChatGPT into the iOS violated antitrust and unfair competition laws. Allegedly, the conspiracy is designed to protect Apple's smartphone monopoly and block out AI rivals to lock in OpenAI's dominance in the chatbot market.
As Musk sees it, Apple is supposedly so worried that X will use Grok to create a ‘super app’ that replaces the need for a sophisticated smartphone that the iPhone maker decided to partner with OpenAI to limit X and xAI innovation.”
This lawsuit (available here) is nonsensical and says more about Elon Musk and his frustrations with OpenAI and ChatGPT adoption exceeding that of xAI and Grok than Apple’s handling of the App Store.
The opening paragraph to Musk’s filing comes across as a joke.
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Elon Musk Goes After Apple…Again, Revisiting the Apple/Parler Controversy, Apple vs. Twitter (Daily Update)
We kick off today’s update with Neil’s thoughts on Elon Musk going after Apple yet again. The update then turns to the Apple/Parler controversy from 2021 which provides insights as to how Apple is approaching Musk’s Twitter. We conclude with what Neil suspects is actually going on between Apple and Twitter as it pertains to the App Store.
Hello everyone. Let's jump right into today's update.
Elon Musk Goes After Apple…Again
Back on October 27th, Elon Musk officially bought Twitter. For the past month, there has been a nonstop stream of chaos and surprises come from Musk and his small group of friends brought in to come up with a working strategy for the company.
While Musk has made plenty of unforced errors out of the gate - primarily by moving way too fast - the broader strategy of Twitter betting on paid subscriptions makes sense. (Musk needs to think much broader than just $8/month for what amounts to fake verification.) Ad-funded business models have come under pressure due to the economy and competitive forces. Revenue diversification would be a long-term positive for Twitter.
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