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SEATTLE – Microsoft said Thursday it would give developers more control over its app store, in stark contrast to Apple, which faces increasing pressure for its firm control over its app store.
Microsoft said Thursday it was adopting 10 “principles” for its application store, Microsoft Store, that customers can use to install programs on Windows 10, the computer’s operating system. The guidelines include giving developers the ability to sell different services on their apps and websites, and allowing users and developers to access third-party app stores.
The announcement was not a major change in policy at Microsoft, whose app store is more open than Apple’s. But it added a powerful voice to a raging debate about how big tech companies should run their app stores, where they act as powerful gatekeepers between developers and consumers.
The principles are intended to “promote choice, ensure fairness and promote innovation,” said Rima Alaily, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, in a blog post announcing the approach.
Apple is at the center of the app markets debate because it forces developers to distribute their apps on iPhones and iPads through its hugely lucrative App Store and then takes 30 percent of the sales of many of those apps. . Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite, accused the tech giant in an antitrust lawsuit of abusing its size to overcharge app developers. On Monday, lawmakers in the House of Representatives claimed that Apple had a monopoly on the app market for iPhones and iPads, leading to higher prices for consumers.
Apple has defended its App Store and questioned the House report’s findings, saying that the cut it receives from developers is industry standard, and developers have thrived on the trust customers have in the safe download of applications on iPhones and iPads.
“The App Store has enabled new markets, new services and new products that were unimaginable a dozen years ago, and developers have been the main beneficiaries of this ecosystem,” the company said Monday.
Microsoft’s principles largely echo the proposals made by the Coalition for App Fairness, a new non-profit organization representing application developers. Members of the group include Epic Games, Spotify, and Match Group, the developer of Tinder. The coalition has said its goal is to coordinate the response of smaller companies in the hopes of changing the standards for large app stores.
Ms. Alaily said she hoped Microsoft’s commitment to standards could be a “productive” example for regulators and legislators as they consider reforming the app store model.
Microsoft’s own app store isn’t the only way, or even the primary way, for customers to get new programs on a computer. Most users download them from a developer’s website. The company already allows other app stores on Windows 10, such as the game streaming platform Steam.
But Microsoft is a developer unto itself and has recently clashed with Apple over its all-you-can-play cloud gaming app, which allows users to access many games through one interface. Apple said each game should be individually approved by Apple as a standalone game, with a portion given to Apple. In July, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chairman, told the House antitrust committee that he believed Apple’s behavior resembled the policing practices that got Microsoft into antitrust trouble decades ago.
“As an app developer, we have sometimes been frustrated by other app stores that force us to sell services in our apps even when our users don’t expect or want them, and we can’t do it profitably,” Alaily wrote.
Microsoft said its principles would not apply to its Xbox gaming console, which it argued was following a different business model. He said that game consoles are sold for little or no profit, or sometimes below cost, and instead recoup development costs through games.
