Apple has quietly launched a new website promising consumers and developers that its App Store "welcomes competition," pushing back against claims the online marketplace employs monopoly tactics.
The website, rolled out Wednesday, lists the App Store’s principles and touts its benefits for developers. It also details how Apple curates apps and how the company’s own offerings, like FaceTime, Apple Music, and Apple Maps, compete with other third-party apps available in the App Store.
“We believe competition makes everything better and results in the best apps for our customers,” Apple says on its website. “We also care about quality over quantity, and trust over transactions.”
The site follows a barrage of anticompetition charges from consumers, politicians, and other companies. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court greenlighted an antitrust lawsuit by four iPhone users who argued Apple monopolized the retail market by forcing iPhone users to buy software through its App Store.
[Previous coverage: Apple becomes first company valued at $1 trillion]
Apple had maintained the iPhone users couldn’t sue because they weren't direct purchasers, but the court ruled in its 5-4 decision — in which Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the liberal wing of the bench — that they were and that they could, indeed, sue.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company is also facing accusations its streaming service, Apple Music, has an “unfair advantage” over competitors like Spotify, which filed a complaint with the European Commission in March.
Daniel Elk, Spotify’s CEO, wrote in a blog post at the time that Apple has set new App Store rules that “purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience.” Spotify first tried unsuccessfully to resolve its issues directly with Apple, Elk said.
The Spotify chief cited Apple’s 30% tax on purchases made through its payment system, which hinders Spotify’s ability to keep prices competitive with Apple Music, launched in 2015. Elk also accused Apple of locking Spotify and others out of Apple services including Siri, Apple Watch, and HomePod.
2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren, who has been leading charge against anticompetitive practices in Silicon Valley, has called for the company to be separated from its App Store.
“It’s got to be one or the other,” Warren, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, told The Verge in March. “Either they run the platform or they play in the store. They don’t get to do both at the same time.”
Seeking to quell such concerns, Apple's new website says developers can review the reasons why an app may have been removed from the online marketplace and stressed that the company's App Review team makes roughly 1,000 calls weekly to help developers address and resolve such issues.
[Opinion: And the Grammy goes to ... Spotify]
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/apple-devotes-website-to-fighting-anticompetition-claims-against-app-store
2019-05-30 17:52:00Z
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