Several major developers have formed a coalition to fight Apple over its app store policies.
The Coalition for App Fairness counts Spotify, Epic Games and Match Group, owner of Tinder, among its founding members.
He claims Apple "taxes consumers and crushes innovation," criticizing what he calls anti-competitive policies.
Apple, which is involved in a lawsuit with some members, has long denied these allegations.
Google, which runs Play's app store on Android, isn't mentioned in the group's launch statement, but is named elsewhere on its website and charged with similar policies.
The coalition was established as an independent nonprofit and is open to other developers, regardless of size, to join.
Next to a file
"Vision" in 11 points, the group has identified three key issues they will campaign on:
- alleged anti-competitive policies of both Apple and Google, which in its view limit the products and features available to consumers
- the 30% cut Apple and Google take from sales via their app stores, which the group claims is an "app tax"
- what it claims is a lack of consumer freedom, without "competition, options, remedies"
Some of the founding members are longtime public critics particularly of Apple's policies.
In recent months, Epic Games has been involved in a very public spat with Apple - and to a lesser extent, Google - after deliberately violating their guidelines and starting a legal battle over them.
Spotify, meanwhile, filed a complaint with the European Union against Apple's policies, while Tile previously accused Apple of anti-competitive behavior, filing antitrust claims in the US and Europe.
Basecamp, another member, is behind Hey, an email app that found itself at the center of a huge public dispute over the App Store earlier this year.
And Prepear, a listed member, is a relatively small company that recently found itself defending its logo from a trademark dispute after Apple said the pear shape was too similar to its logo.
"Fundamental freedoms"
In a statement on the coalition, Epic Games chief Tim Sweeney said, "The fundamental freedoms of developers are under attack.
"We are the supporters of any company ready to claim its rights and challenge the anti-competitive behavior that exists today in the app stores."
Match Group, which owns Tinder and other dating apps, said it was joining because Apple's in-app purchase system "forces consumers to pay higher prices by placing Apple between app developers and their users, leading to customer confusion and dissatisfaction with far-reaching implications for our businesses. "
Other founding members include Blix, Blockchain.com, Deezer, the European Publishers Council, News Media Europe, Protonmail and SkyDemon.
Apple has yet to comment directly on the formation of the new group.
But it claims its 30% cut in App Store sales is in line with industry standards and other digital markets.
It also recently released new statistics on its investments in user security and privacy last year, including:
- reject more than 150,000 app submissions for violating privacy guidelines
- reviewing more than 100,000 apps every week
- reject more than a million apps for malicious, objectionable or illegal content
- remove more than 60 million spam reviews
Such investments are one of the arguments that Apple proposes to maintain control of its ecosystem, arguing that this leads to greater safety and security for users.
Related
