Tesla CEO and Twitter boss Elon Musk said he would make an alternative phone if Apple and Google started Twitter from their app stores. Lots of people want it to go ahead with a phone launch even though Apple and Google aren’t deplatforming Twitter.
Elon Musk could launch an alternative phone to compete with Apple and Google
Elon Musk on Friday revealed the possibility of him launching his own smartphone, which would compete with the iPhone and Android, if Apple and Google deplatform his newly acquired social media company.
Twitter user Liz Wheeler suggested that Musk would produce his own smartphone if Apple and Google started Twitter from their app stores, adding that “half the country would gladly get rid of the iPhone and the Biased and nosy Androids”. Musk replied, “I sure hope it doesn’t come to that, but, yeah, if there’s no other choice, I’ll make an alternative phone.”
Musk’s plans for Twitter as a free speech platform could bring the social media company into conflict with Apple and Google and the two tech giants could remove Twitter from their app stores.
The Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and even smaller app stores like the Amazon Appstore have rules intended to protect users from discrimination, bullying, harassment, and any content they deem objectionable. They removed apps due to improper content moderation practices as well as harmful content. Apple said in a letter to Congress last year that it removed more than 30,000 apps from its store for objectionable content in 2020.
In January last year, Apple and Google cut Parler, a social media app focused on free speech, following the riot in the US capital on January 6. The two companies later let the app return to their stores with some content excluded after substantial changes to the app’s content moderation practices.
A lot of people want Musk to launch an alternative phone
Many people welcome the idea of Musk producing an alternative phone. “I would buy this. Do it even if the app stays,” one Twitter user exclaimed. Another said, “Do it anyway. There is a huge market for an alternative to Google and Apple. A third user pointed out:
If Apple attempted the kind of strike against Twitter that it successfully launched against Parler, I can assure you Elon Musk that millions of us would without hesitation ditch our Apple iPhones and switch to your alternative model.
Some people have warned against the reality of Musk launching an alternative phone. One said: “Even if it’s Elon Musk, there are already dominant prime movers in space.” Another warned: “Even if he wanted to do this, it would be years before [a] only phone went on sale. The phones rely on components from dozens of vendors. Just getting a fabulous space for a processor would take years, TSMC has been booked for years and Samsung is way behind its node processes.
A third user shared, “Prediction: Starlink-connected Twitter mobile phone: Always on, always connected, anywhere in the world. [the] world. Capable of crypto switches and payments, all operated under space law. Imagine blockchain + communications hosted on microservers in space, beyond the reach of terrestrial governments.
Additionally, the Tesla CEO also complained about the 15% to 30% cut Apple and Google take from in-app purchases, which could eat into revenue from Musk’s plans for $8 a month thanks Twitter verification subscriptions. On November 18, Musk tweeted:
App Store fees are obviously too high due to the iOS/Android duopoly. It’s a hidden tax of 30% on the Internet.
Musk recently revealed plans to build X, the everything app. He said the purchase of Twitter accelerates the creation of X by three to five years.
Would you buy Elon Musk’s smartphone alternative to iPhone and Android? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
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