Apple Inc told US regulators that it opposes charging higher fees for faster internet access, just weeks after pledging to spend US$1 billion making movies and TV shows to stream online.
“Paid fast lanes could replace today’s content-neutral transmission of internet traffic with differential treatment of content based on an online providers’ ability or willingness to pay,” Apple vice president of public policy Cynthia Hogan wrote in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday.
“It could create artificial barriers to entry for new online services, making it harder for tomorrow’s innovations to attract investment and succeed,” she wrote.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump, is rolling back Obama-era net neutrality rules by lifting bans on blocking Web traffic and building “fast lanes” that favor those willing to pay more for faster service.
Until now, Apple mostly avoided the net neutrality debate, although chief executive Tim Cook earlier this year said that might change if it became a topic of political discussion.
Apple’s fastest growing business is Services, which includes offerings like the App Store, music streaming and cloud storage. The Cupertino, California-based company is spending US$1 billion on video content that could serve as the foundation of a new streaming product, people familiar with the plan said earlier this month.
Hogan also addressed the extent of the FCC’s authority over broadband Internet service providers, a sticking point in debates over the net neutrality rules.
The agency claimed strong authority normally applied to utilities when it in 2015 wrote the rules under Democratic Party leadership. Broadband providers and Republicans say that gives the FCC too much power to interfere in business decisions.
“Apple remains open to alternative sources of legal authority, but only if they provide for strong, enforceable and legally sustainable protections, like those in place today,” Hogan wrote. “Simply put, the Internet is too important to consumers and too essential to innovation to be left unprotected and uncertain.”
US lawmakers have been debating whether to remove the strong utility-style authority in potential legislation.
Democrats have objected to earlier proposals, saying they would weaken the FCC’s authority.
Separately, Apple has set Sept. 12 for its most significant new product announcement in years.
The company plans to introduce three new iPhone models, a version of its Apple TV set-top-box that can stream higher-quality content and a new version of the Apple Watch that can connect to LTE cellular data networks, Bloomberg has reported.
The event will be the first at the new Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, and take place in a theater named for company co-founder Steve Jobs, Apple said.
The invitation to media reads: “Let’s meet at our place,” referring to the event’s location.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”