Musk won’t relaunch Twitter Blue until he finds a way to avoid Apple fees
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Twitter CEO Elon Musk was planning to bring back Twitter Blue this week, but then he got frustrated with Apple, and now nobody knows when the subscription service will relaunch. But it seems Musk has decided that when Twitter Blue-initially exclusively offered to iPhone and iPad users-comes back, the service will likely not be available for purchase in the Apple App Store.
According to a Platformer report, a Twitter product manager shared an internal message saying that Twitter Blue is being further delayed to make some tweaks." The biggest tweak seems to be requiring phone number authentication for Twitter Blue subscribers, while the smallest tweak is raising the price from $7.99 to $8. Forbes reported that this version of Twitter Blue was intended to be available this Friday, but Musk's push to quickly get as many paid subscriptions as possible shifted when Apple suspended advertising on Twitter and, according to Musk, threatened to drop the app from its store.
If Musk's feud with Apple continues heating up, it could mean that the No. 1 smartphone, which more than half of Americans use, would only be able to access Twitter through a web browser.