“It appears that Apple obtained a ‘gatekeeper’ role when it comes to the distribution of apps and content to users of Apple’s popular devices,” Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s vice president in charge of competition policy, said in a statement. The investigation was sparked by complaints from Spotify and a distributor of e-books and audiobooks, both of which raised concerns with Apple’s rules. The European Commission’s investigation will focus on the mandatory use of Apple’s proprietary in-app purchasing system for distributing paid content, which requires the 30 percent commission fee, and restrictions on the ability of developers to tell users about purchasing options outside of the app. On the same day that Apple first rejected Hey’s update, Europe’s primary competition authority announced it had opened a formal probe into the App Store. Scrutiny of Apple’s App Store has come from abroad as well. “This is a direct consequence of enormous market power, the fact that Apple is the gatekeeper for these developers, and we have heard many, many examples.” “This is a real problem in the marketplace,” Cicilline added. “Many people have come forward to share their experiences who are terrified of economic retaliation, who are afraid they can’t survive the economic retaliation that these large platforms can impose because of the power that they have, and we intend to pursue those allegations very seriously,” he said last week. The battle sparked other reports from software developers detailing similar pressure to conform to Apple’s rules.Ĭicilline, who has been leading a House investigation into digital marketplace competition, said his committee intends to shine a light on developers who fear retaliation if they don’t follow Apple’s policies. Hey will now offer iOS users a free 14-day account in order to appease Apple’s demand that customers be able to download the app and use it without having to sign up elsewhere first. Apple charges a 30 percent fee for use of its payment tools.īasecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson accused Apple of acting like “gangsters” for pressuring the email service Hey to add the in-app subscription feature, saying he would “burn this house down” before agreeing to the 30 percent fee.Īpple ultimately approved a new version of Hey on Monday, but the green light is only temporary. His comments were in response to Apple’s rejection of an update to a $99-a-year email service from a company called Basecamp, which didn’t offer a way for users to sign up and pay through their app in the App Store. If there were real competition in this marketplace, this wouldn’t happen.” “It’s crushing small developers who simply can’t survive with those kinds of payments. “Because of the market power that Apple has, it is charging exorbitant rents - highway robbery, basically - bullying people to pay 30 percent or denying access to their market,” the chairman of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee said on a podcast from The Verge late last week. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), one of the biggest antitrust hawks on Capitol Hill. That dispute caught the attention of Rep. Much of the focus is on the fees Apple charges developers and the tech giant’s ability to torpedo apps by denying access to its store following a very public dispute with a high-profile software developer. Apple’s App Store is coming under increasing antitrust scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators and competitors for its treatment of third-party developers.
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