This is still likely to be debated. Yesterday, in a response to a tweet, Elon Musk hinted that he would indeed be tempted to launch his own alternative smartphones, even specifying that he may not have a choice in the future. Here is what emerges from the exchange in question.
Elon Musk in mobile telephony?
So on Twitter, Elon Musk was able to say:
If Apple and Google remove Twitter from their app stores, @elonmusk should produce their own smartphone. Half the country would be happy to get rid of the biased, nosy iPhone and Android. Man builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?
In the process, Elon Musk was quick to come forward:
Of course I hope it doesn’t come to that, but yes, if there’s no other choice, I’ll make an alternative phone.
We can imagine that building a third mobile platform from scratch would present a huge challenge. This comes in the context where we learn that Apple and Google could require 15 to 30% of the transactions carried out by the applications present on their stores. Very high fees that would hinder Elon Musk’s desire to monetize (and make profitable) Twitter:
App store prices are obviously too high due to the iOS/Android duopoly.
This is a hidden tax of 30% on the internet.
Nothing is done/played yet, but given the speed at which a Musk project can sometimes launch (on a whim) everything is now possible.
