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Several of Apple’s biggest critics, including Epic Games, Spotify, Basecamp, Match Group, Tile, Blix, and Deezer, have come together to form the Coalition for App Fairness. The group aims to “level the playing field for the app business and give people the freedom to choose on their devices.”
Most of the founding members have fought individually or currently against Apple over its App Store policies. Now, the Coalition for App Fairness will make a coordinated developer effort to formally protest against Apple’s rules. The goal is to provide a centralized organization to protect the interests of developers, especially those companies that may not have the influence or resources to deal with Apple alone.
The Coalition for App Fairness lists three major contentious topics related to Apple’s rules. First, members are unhappy that Apple is charging a 30% commission on all payments made through its store. Second, the lack of other competitive options for distributing apps on iOS raises criticism. Finally, members of the coalition argue that Apple is using its control over iOS in favor of its own services.
None of these charges are new. For example, Spotify has officially filed an EU antitrust lawsuit against Apple for many of these complaints. Earlier this year, Basecamp took on Apple, saying it refuses to approve future updates to Hey’s email app unless you sell a subscription through the Apple store. Blix claimed that Apple stole his anonymous email authorization ideas and later removed his app from the App Store. Blix has previously tried to gather other developers to join his fight. Tile testified before Congress that Apple used its platform to undermine the usability of its iOS product. The latest high-profile example of a showdown with Apple is Epic. The developer has launched a full-blown war over Apple’s 30 percent commission on the app store. As a result, their Fortnite game was completely removed from the App Store and now companies will settle things in court.
The Coalition for App Fairness has developed and is proposing a code of conduct that encourages Apple and other platform owners to adopt. It is proposed that developers are not required to use a dedicated app store, so that all developers have the same access to the same technical information as the platform owner, and that developers are not required to pay ” unfair, unreasonable, or discriminatory fees or revenue sharing “to list your products in the app store.
Source: The Verge
