Apple Says Developers’ Concerns With App Store Are Business Disputes, Not Antitrust Issues

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Apple has sent a letter to lawmakers defending its business practices in response to accusations made by developers at last month’s Senate hearing on possible antitrust issues with the company’s app stores.

Apple’s Chief Compliance Office Kyle Andeer penned the letter that fired back on charges made by in-house lawyers for Spotify, Match Group, and Tile Inc., saying that the developers were complaining about business disputes, not competition issues, Law360 reports.

“Rather than demonstrating a problem with competition, these witnesses — representing companies that have thrived in Apple’s ecosystem — showcased how Apple and the iOS ecosystem foster competition,” the letter said.

At April’s Senate subcommittee hearing, Spotify Head of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer Horacio Gutierrez told lawmakers that the 30 percent competition fee charged by Apple on app store sales was too high and not subject to competition, Law360 reports.

Gutierrez also said that Apple had “anti-competitive intent,” only taking commissions from developers that competed against its own products, like Apple Music, and not from companies like Uber, Starbucks, and Ticketmaster.

However, to Gutierrez’s first point, Andeer said that the fee for large developers was in line with competing app stores, and for developers that earnt less than $1 million a year on its store, Apple only took a 15 percent commission.

He added that Apple made a distinction between physical and digital goods or services when deciding whether to charge a commission fee, adding a digital product, “is experienced on your iPhone and relies most heavily upon the device’s technologies, features, and intellectual property.”

Dating site owner Match Group’s Chief Legal Officer Jared Sine accused Apple of rejecting apps without any explanation. At the hearing, he said that it took the company two months to get an update approved that added safety features for members of the LGBTQ community on its Tinder app, Law360 reports.

However, in the letter Andeer alleged that Apple had worked with Tinder to get the app update approved, but it also included pricing updates that violated Federal Trade Commission consumer protection rules.

“For one month (not two), Apple engaged in communications with Tinder, asking it to comply with fair consumer pricing rules and explaining that once changes to the description of subscription pricing were made, the updates would be approved,” Andeer wrote.

Andeer also responded to allegations that Apple blocks new technologies from competing apps that were levelled against the company by counsel for device-tracking company Tile. Kristen Daru said that Apple was blocking the company from the new location service technology ultra-wide band, or UWB, which would improve its service.

However, Andeer said in the letter that given Tile’s large market share, the company was nervous about competition from Apple’s new AirTag device locator. He added that Apple would eventually allow third-party developers to use UWB technology after Apple had launched its own products first.

In response, Daru told Law360 that Apple continued to “brazenly tip the playing field to its advantage.”

“Apple’s disingenuous response to the serious and legitimate concerns that were raised at last month’s hearing is disappointing,” Daru said, adding she was confident members of Congress understood that Apple had “abused its market power to enhance its own interests at the expense of so many companies and their customers.”

Apple is currently facing a lawsuit from Fortnite developer Epic Games, which alleges Apple’s 30 percent charges in the app store are extortionate. 

Also this month, Apple was hit with a class action lawsuit in the U.K. for allegedly guarding the world of apps “jealously,” overcharging on the App Store and acting like a monopoly to prevent consumers from getting better deals elsewhere.

Do you think developers should pay a 30 percent commission to Apple to sell their apps on the Apple app store? Let us know in the comments section!

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