At least one firm following Apple thinks last week’s theatrics on Capitol Hill may have been just that - theatrics. That it could be sound and fury, eventually coming to naught.
The play in question was the American Innovation and Choice Online Act. According to a piece from The Next Web:
“The act says companies should allow competing businesses the same access to features and operating systems as the platforms’ own apps.” That would, for example, give Spotify the same system-level access as Apple Music on iOS.
Users should be allowed to remove pre-installed apps from their devices. Theoretically, that levels the playing field between third-party developers and soup-to-nuts shops like Apple and Google.
And, the piece says, “The bill also prohibits these firms from taking advantage of non-public data to boost their own products, or making their own products more prominently visible in front of customers.”
The proposed legislation passed out of committee last Thursday, and could now be taken up by the entire Senate. But an analyst with Evercore ISI thinks that may not happen, and - even if it does, odds of its passing are not in the sponsors’ favor. Apple 3.0 ran part of a note from Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani. His note included a quote from Tobin Marcus, Evercore ISI Senior US Policy and Politics Strategist. While talk of the legislation may dominate the current quarter, he thinks the bill’s passage is “fairly unlikely.” Quoting Mr. Marcus:
The 16-6 committee vote overstates the level of support for the bill. Some Democrats, including the 2 Senators from California, voted the bill out of committee in part as a courtesy to [Minnesota Democrat Amy] Klobuchar despite expressing significant reservations, and several other Democrats have concerns and changes they want to make. Some of the Republican support looks soft as well, and getting Senate floor time for this bill before Congress largely shuts down for the midterms will be harder than some commentators appreciate.
