Microsoft president reportedly took aim at Apple in private interview with House antitrust committee

Microsoft President Brad Smith speaking at Seattle’s Town Hall in September. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Microsoft President Brad Smith advised a House antitrust subcommittee on competition in the tech industry during a private interview, The Information learned this week.

The discussion primarily focused on Microsoft’s own experience in the antitrust hot seat 20 years ago, but Smith also took the opportunity to call out Apple’s current practices, according to the report.

Smith shared concerns Microsoft has raised publicly about how much power Apple wields over software developers in the App Store. Smith said previously that requirements app stores enforce — including which apps are permitted and how much they have to pay to play — is worse than the behavior that landed Microsoft in hot water decades ago.

The House antitrust subcommittee interviewed Smith in preparation for a hearing Monday with the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. The subcommittee is one of several government entities examining anti-competitive behavior in the technology industry.

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