Apple's big motive for fighting a new antitrust law

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ CEO Tim Cook made his most public declaration this week against proposed antitrust legislation aimed at the company’s App Store. Cook claims that allowing customers to download apps onto their iPhones from third-party sources would make them less safe.
Cook is right that the App Store helps protect users from malware, and third-party options would open up iPhone users to the increased risk of downloading scammy apps. However, the Apple chief has a bigger reason to protest the legislation: Apple’s bottom line.
That’s because if users download apps outside of the App Store, Apple would lose out on the 30% fee it collects on many app sales. Apple doesn’t break out revenue for its App Store, but its services division, which includes the App Store, brought in $68 billion of the company’s total $365 billion in revenue in 2021. Since 2008, the App Store raked in $260 billion.
Apple’s privacy and security chops are one of its biggest selling points. For consumers tired of having their data sucked up or sold by seemingly every organization online and offline, it’s worth paying a premium for the company’s devices. Apple, of course, benefits from user data, as well.