Apple’s App Store concessions fail to address top concerns
Critics want the company to abolish steering rules that stop developers from telling their customers how to pay developers directly for their apps
In the space of a week, Apple Inc made two sets of changes to its App Store rules, which are the subject of lawsuits, regulatory probes and legislation around the world, but the tweaks do not address the biggest concerns raised.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Lawmakers and regulators are considering dismantling the AppStore business model, an outcome that could cost Apple about 6 per cent of its sales - an amount equal to $16 billion in its last fiscal year - and shave up to 15 per cent off its profit, according to an estimate last year from analyst firm Cowen. Among Apple's most high-profile concessions is allowing Netflix Inc and other subscription services to provide a link to out-of-app paid signups that avoid Apple commissions. But many of the largest such companies had already quit using Apple's payment systems long ago, so the move is unlikely to affect Apple's finances.
That is a sign that any fight over Apple's rules will likely continue even if Apple wins in the threat closest to hand - a US federal judge who is due any day to announce a ruling in an antitrust case brought by "Fortnite" game maker Epic Games. "Mobile technologies have become essential to our daily lives, and now just two app stores wield incredible power over which apps consumers can access and how they access them," US Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who sponsored an app storebill, said this week. "When you see this same issue arising allo ver the world, it is even more obvious that we need to takeaction."
Some of the loudest cries are for Apple to allow app stores run by other companies on its iPhone, which would provide a path around the current payments system that gives developers little ability to avoid giving Apple a cut. Critics also want the company to abolish so-called steering rules that stop developers from telling their customers how to pay developers directly for their apps.