The App Store policy has repeatedly attracted criticism from developers, but now the wave of discontent has reached a new level.Thirteen companies, including Spotify, Epic Games and Match Group have joined a coalition against Apple. The organization’s goal is to “protect freedom of choice and fair competition in the application ecosystem.”
The association is officially called the Coalition for App Fairness. On its website, the coalition posted a list of three key issues that the community is not satisfied with.
1) Anti-competitive policy
CAF claims that Apple manipulates the rules of the store to please itself. According to the coalition, Apple forces developers to cut the functionality of applications and sell them only through the App Store, while stealing ideas from competitors itself.
2) The commission amount of 30%
From the point of view of CAF, the store commission takes a huge part of the income from developers. Ultimately, this leads to higher prices and makes it difficult to compete with Apple services.
3) Lack of freedom of choice among consumers
CAF believes that restrictions in the store have a detrimental effect on all parties. The coalition compares the App Store to a prison, “which is paid for by consumers and from which developers cannot escape.”
In response, the association put forward 10 principles that should be followed in the App Store and other marketplaces. For example, in one of them, CAF asks not to force developers to use the auxiliary services of the mobile store, including payment systems. Another says that developers should not be blocked or discriminated against because of its business model or competition with Apple.
Most of the founders of the coalition have been publicly criticizing the App Store policy for a long time. In August 2020, Epic Games sued Apple after removing Fortnite from the store. A year earlier, a loud conflict occurred between the Apple platform and the Spotify music service, when the latter accused Apple of using uncompetitive methods of struggle and pressure on the company. And Prepear‘s health food delivery service itself received a lawsuit a month ago — it was accused of plagiarizing the logo (Prepear has it in the form of a pear).
CAF also includes Basecamp, Tile, Deezer, ProtonMail, Blockchain, Skydemon, News Media Europe, Blix, EPC and Match Group.
Apple has not yet commented on the creation of the coalition. However, the company has repeatedly stated that the rules in the store are fair and protect users from low-quality and harmful content. In addition, she argued that the commission rate of 30% is justified and is also used in other marketplaces.
Also on the topic:
- Amazon was able to circumvent Apple’s restrictions on cloud gamingIn response to the removal of Fortnite from the App Store, Epic Games sued Apple
- Apple App Store is under attack.
- The European government has opened an antitrust case against himIs there any news?
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