- A Russian bill would limit Apple and Google app sales cuts to 20% instead of the usual 30%.
- App sellers would also have to pay a third of their share to an IT training fund.
- If that were successful, Apple and Google would either have to cut their cuts or rethink Russian app sales.
If Apple and Google weren't already feeling the pressure to reform their app stores, they might be feeling it through a proposed Russian law.
Reuters reports that the politician Fedot Tumusov has submitted a bill to the Russian House of Commons to limit the commission for app sales to 20% or a third lower than the 30% required by Apple and Google in the App Store and Play Store respectively. It would also require a third of the commission to be used for an IT specialist training fund.
The move would be a "growth opportunity" for developers, said Tumusov.
We asked Apple and Google for a comment.
There is no guarantee that the bill will be passed. In this case, however, Apple and Google could be forced to make difficult decisions. They would either have to reduce their income from app sales (even if this is just a Russian exception) or stop offering app downloads in the country. Russia is one of the largest smartphone markets in the world, and a loss could affect the bottom line of both tech giants.
This would not be the first time either company has been asked to change its behavior in the region. The Russian antitrust authorities got Google to unbundle apps on Android devices and found that Apple abused the dominance of the App Store by rejecting a Kaspersky parental control app. Officials aren't particularly fond of the impact Apple and Google are having on Russian developers, and this is a serious headache for both companies.
