Never has he devoted so much money, Apple, in lobbying activities as in the first three months of 2022. This is the caption accompanying the issue released by Bloomberg: two and a half million dollars in three months, that is, nearly a million a month to keep the pressure on the US Congress and federal governments alive in an attempt to limit or soften the rules governing competition.
Apple needs it as never before at a crucial moment for the medium and long-term fate of its corporate strategy, in light of the discussion in the US on new rules to protect competition. The numbers, moreover, do not lie and give a dimension to Apple’s fears. From one quarter to another, i.e. from the last of 2021 to the first of 2022, spending grew by 34%, from 1.86 to 2.5 million dollars, an indication that the showdown could be near. The previous record of $ 2.2 million had stood for five years, starting Q2 2017.
The debate in the US is about the rules that they can stem the overwhelming power of the tech giants. Among the most feared measures by Apple is theOpen App Markets Act under the scrutiny of Congress which enjoys bipartisan support from political forces, and which could allow Apple customers to install apps outside the App Store. The company officially opposes by waving the banner of protection of privacy and security, but in this way it should also give up the rich commissions applied to developers on every purchase made by the App Store.
The investments in favor of lobbying activities they are not just about Apple. Bloomberg reports that Google in the same period he also spent more than the Apple, separated by a whisker from the quota of one million dollars a month: he would have spent 2.96 million, 34% more than in the previous quarter (same percentage increase as in Cupertino) even if it is not a record figure. After all, the American financial newspaper said, it is the same amount as in the first quarter of last year.
Microsoft has invested as much as Apple in the protection of its economic interests, that is 2.5 million of Apple. The percentages differ, highlighting a substantial calm in Redmond’s cash flows: + 2.8% on the previous quarter, while in the year-on-year comparison it even went down by 1.9%.
Bruscolini, however, compared to the money given by Meta or Amazon, which in 2021 spent 40 million in two.
