Apple hired lobbying firm in February
The LA Times says Apple has slowly begun hiring more lobbyists in Washington, D.C. to protect its interests as it has grown from a niche player to one of the tech sector's biggest powerhouses. Apple has traditionally placed little reliance on lobbyists, but in February of this year, Apple contracted the services of the high-powered Washington lobbying firm of Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock.
The move comes as Apple has grown from a company worth $2.5 billion in 2003 to a behemoth with $300 billion in market capitalization, and from $37.5 billion in sales in FY2008 to $65.2 billion in FY2010. Accordingly, the company has tripled its lobbying expenses in that time to $1.6 million. The move for more pull in Washington comes as Apple is increasingly coming under the microscope of antitrust issues, primarily regarding the iTunes Music Store, the App Store and the iBooks Store. [Apple's lobbying expenditures are quite small in comparison to US cell carrier partners AT&T and Verizon; each telco spent more than $15 million on lobbying in 2010. The highest lobbying bill for an individual corporation belonged to Pacific Gas & Electric last year, which spent more than $45 million. -Ed.]
Last year a clause in Apple's iOS SDK spurred an an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over anticompetitive measures regarding the banning of the porting of software originally written for Adobe's Flash, Sun's Java or Microsoft's Silverlight/Mono to the iPhone OS. Also, just last month Steve Jobs was ordered to give a deposition relating to monopolistic behavior over the iPod and the iTunes Store back in 2004.
Besides Apple, Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock represents other powerful companies, including the NFL Players Association, BP America, UnitedHealth Group and the Recording Industry Association of America.
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The LA Times says Apple has slowly begun hiring more lobbyists in Washington, D.C. to protect its interests as it has grown from a...
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They should have gone with Shotgun, Bastard & Dribble...
April 11 2011 at 11:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe consulting firm F.I.B. I love it!
April 11 2011 at 10:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyLobbying is just another name for bribery, and it's all legal.
April 11 2011 at 7:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyGrowing from a scrappy underdog to one of the biggest technology companies on the planet with a huge base of loyal fans, Apple (AAPL) is looking for even more friends -- this time in Washington.
The company, with a market value greater than Microsoft, Google (GOOG) or Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), is increasingly evolving from a computer maker to a multi-product international powerhouse and a major force in the entertainment and publishing industries.
But Apple's aggressive exploitation of its immensely popular iPhone, iPad and sprawling online marketplace for music and digital applications has raised the eyebrows of regulators and lawmakers, who worry the company's dominance might stifle competition.
Lobbyists are not inherently bad, folks. Lobbyists exist to explain the situation of current commercial and social interests to the inept politicians we elect who know NOTHING about them. It does lead to corruption, of course, because some lobbyists feel that they can pay someone to think in the interests of those who represent them, but they wouldn't exist at all if we as a population elected people with the brains to seek out proper well-balanced and informed information.
Look at the lashing that video games got by the House of Representatives in the 90s... that was a result of not having lobbyists keeping politicians from making uninformed conclusions about the medium.
Like it or lump it, they exist because our collective nations keep electing idiots who need things explained to them because they aren't equipped to make an informed decision.
Lobbyists have even more out there last names than lawyers.
I wonder where it will lead to over the next 100 years.
Djwhyvjn, saicjdnal and bindakcokl
commercial and contract law specialists
it is probably an evolutionary response to avoid being sued or held responsible. "I'm sorry, my name isn't kdhdioamc it is kdpdioamac. I had nothing to do with that"
In other words, Apple's value has gone up more than 100-fold, but it's only increased it's lobbying budget threefold. Despite being under scrutiny for antitrust issues. I guess they could afford to spend many times that figure to be sure that the issues are resolved in their favour.
It's nasty for sure, lobbyists aren't good for a fair system but if everyone else is using them then Apple's gotta too if they want to remain good with the legislators.
Screwed up way to play ball but them's the way the games played, right or wrong.
Playing the system just like everyone else I guess? Dirty!
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