Store wars

According to Steve Jobs’ authorised biography – the same adapted for the screen by Aaron Sorkin – the co-founder of Apple came up with the company’s name on the way home from an orchard, a pilgrimage during “one of [his] fruitarian diets”. But in 2021, it’s hard not to think of a more Biblical connection, involving the fruit of a certain walled garden. After all, the tech giant has for decades presided over a closed ecosystem that it controls completely. Now that garden is under siege, attacked by powerful companies tired of paying Apple for the privilege of selling their products on iOS devices. We’d call it a tithe, were it not for the fact that a tithe is a ten per cent tax – Apple famously asks for 30 per cent, and it’s the size of that slice that has finally begun to rankle.

From the north comes Spotify, sick of attempting to compete with Apple Music on iOS, a