Apple is facing a $1 billion lawsuit from more than 1,500 UK app developers who claim the company’s App Store fees are unfair. The developers say that Apple’s 15% to 30% commissions on in-app purchases are too high and stifle competition.
Apple has previously said that 85% of developers on the App Store do not pay any commission and that it helps European developers to access markets and customers in 175 countries around the world through the App Store.
The UK lawsuit at the Competition Appeal Tribunal is being brought by Sean Ennis, a professor at the Centre for Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia and a former economist at the OECD, on behalf of 1,566 app developers.
“Apple’s charges to app developers are excessive, and only possible due to its monopoly on the distribution of apps onto iPhones and iPads,” Ennis said in a statement. “The charges are unfair in their own right, and constitute abusive pricing. They harm app developers and also app buyers.”
MacDailyNews Take: The average app price in the Apple App Store as of July 2023 is 88-cents.
So, according to Sean Ennis, apps that on average cost less than half the price of a litre (1/8th the cost of a gallon) of gas in the UK are “excessive,” “unfair,” and “and constitute abusive pricing.” (smirk)
Again:
How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022
It’s Apple’s App Store. Of course they have a right to charge commissions.
Apple’s App Store isn’t a charity and it’s not free to operate. – MacDailyNews, November 14, 2022
That said, as we wrote last year:
Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).
iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.
These moves, including removing the mandate to use WebKit, Apple’s Safari browsing engine, in third-party browsers, will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the threat of anti-trust actions against Apple for the foreseeable future.
Also, expect Gatekeeper to come to iOS and iPadOS from macOS.
Yes, Apple’s App Store revenue will take a hit, but there are new products for new markets on deck (AR/VR headsets, AR glasses, Apple Car, etc.) that will more than make up for any loss of App Store exclusivity.
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Could someone explain how you could market, distribute, and collect payments for software worldwide at less than 15% of retail price? For extra credit, explain how you would do all that with free software.
If you do, or don’t, it can only be with competition. Apple has ZERO competition in iOS Apps. They are in fact, a monopoly for iOS Apps.