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Apple Executive Defends App Store Rules Scrutinized by EU and US (bloomberg.com) 41

Posted by msmash from the perfect-world dept.
The Apple executive in charge of the App Store in Europe said that the company's policies ensure a level playing field for developers and ease-of-use for customers as regulatory scrutiny over the platform mounts. From a report: "Our efforts to help developers succeed are broad, deep and ongoing, and they extend to apps -- in music, email, or a variety of other categories -- that compete with some aspect of our business," Daniel Matray, the iPhone maker's head of App Store and media services in Europe, said in a speech Tuesday at a four-day virtual conference hosted by Forum Europe. The speech comes as Apple faces antitrust probes in the European Union and U.S. over rules it imposes on developers. In particular, regulators are taking aim at the requirement that apps use the company's in-house payment service, which takes a cut of 15% to 30% of most subscriptions and in-app purchases. Matray said that about 85% of apps it hosts don't pay Apple a commission because they're free or earn revenue through other means. Further reading: How Apple Stacked the App Store With Its Own Products.
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Apple Executive Defends App Store Rules Scrutinized by EU and US More

Apple Executive Defends App Store Rules Scrutinized by EU and US

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  • Level playing field, nicely done EU likes a good "Level Playing Field" , nice troll there
    • They can always move to the UK and set up shop there and do business if they don't like the EU, customers in the EU can buy over the internet in GBP
      • An EU company could be created to compete with Apple in the UK. They can call it Lime.
        • UK is not in the EU
          • True. Forgot about Brexit there for a moment. Wishful thinking I guess.

          • UK is not in the EU

            That's not true. The UK has been blathering on about leaving since they arrived in 1973 and we keep showing them where the exit is but they just keep thinking of new reasons to stay.

            • "Brexit" simply means they'll go from being half in to half out of Europe.

              (at great expense to the taxpayer).

              • "Brexit" simply means they'll go from being half in to half out of Europe.

                (at great expense to the taxpayer).

                The UK is the ex-girlfriend from hell.

          • No, but by the time it's all said and done, the UK will probably go for a Norway++ relationship, meaning the UK will bind itself to the same Common Market rules as the EU. Once the fantasy that Britain can somehow magically create trade relationships with the US and the Commonwealth that can make up the gap that would be lost by frictionless access to the EU, that will be the end of that.

            And yes, that means Brexit will be among the most futile gestures by a British government since Neville Chamberlain's "Pe

        • Ireland is going to get assremaed by the EU CCCTB anyway and some companies will look to move out if it hurts them

      • Re:Level playing field, nicely done (Score:4, Insightful)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @10:53AM (#60246928) Homepage Journal

        They couldn't. As long as they have retail in the EU they will be subject to EU rules. If they close all their retail and B2B stuff in the EU they will be pissing away hundreds of billions of Euros and it still won't help because their products will get taxed or confiscated at the border.

        The EU always wins because the EU is a huge, valuable market and in the end it's always more profitable to play by the rules than to leave or to try to circumvent it. Even entire countries like the UK can't overcome it.

  • Apple builds this store, creates the tech to consume it and then asks to get paid for it. How dare they ask for money. And the anti-trust thing, just ask Nokia or Motorola how their near monopolies on cell phones and app stores worked out. It just takes one disruptor to make a better phone that the kids think is cooler and Apple will fall from grace.

    • I find it very funny that the next article in line after this has the title:
      "Google Removes 25 Android Apps Caught Stealing Facebook Credentials "

      • Only Apple simps would use an example of successful curating of Google's store to defend monopolist Apples anti-competative stance.

        Other stores are trivial to install on Android. If you are unhappy with it, or even side load apps you want.

        This is one of the many reasons why my current phone is an Android.

        Your comment has nothing to do with Apple taking a 30% cut from companies that are in direct competition with it.

        • "Your comment has nothing to do with Apple taking a 30% cut from companies that are in direct competition with it."

          Also those not in direct competition, it's the malware checks you pay for and it's worth every penny.

      • Malware removal is a bad thing for you?

    • Apple builds this store, creates the tech to consume it and then asks to get paid for it. How dare they ask for money. And the anti-trust thing, just ask Nokia or Motorola how their near monopolies on cell phones and app stores worked out. It just takes one disruptor to make a better phone that the kids think is cooler and Apple will fall from grace.

      Since smartphones have all become little more than a device that provides access to common apps, I'm struggling to understand what is actually unique about the hardware. Apple's hardware has been reduced to nothing more than a fashion statement. It wouldn't even take a tech company to affect that revenue driven by a popularity contest.

      The real question is, how the hell do you even define a "fall", when Apple is a certified card-carrying member of the Too-Big-To-Fail class?

      • "I'm struggling to understand what is actually unique about the hardware"

        I guess that all depends on what your definition of "unique" is. If it's processor type, memory, etc., that's one thing. If you think that phones are just screens to run apps, that's another. What we don't know at this very moment is what could replace the devices Apple currently manufactures. Picking something from sci-fi might suggest a neural network that directly links one's brain to a personal space in the cloud as an example. We

        • "I'm struggling to understand what is actually unique about the hardware"

          I guess that all depends on what your definition of "unique" is. If it's processor type, memory, etc., that's one thing. If you think that phones are just screens to run apps, that's another.

          Since we're talking about the average computer idiot who doesn't know or care what kind of processor their "phone" has, I'm more referring to that electronic device bolted to every young adult in the modern world, that basically looks and acts just like every other app-serving device.

          ...What we don't know at this very moment is what could replace the devices Apple currently manufactures. Picking something from sci-fi might suggest a neural network that directly links one's brain to a personal space in the cloud as an example.

          Here, let's explore your sci-fi idea. I'm providing online electronic feedback in the 21st Century via a plastic box full of keys on my desk that we all just knew would be extinct by now, back when we were being sold all that

      • Apple's hardware has been reduced to nothing more than a fashion statement.

        Spoken like a person that either doesn't own an Apple product and doesn't bother to watch things like the recent WWDC Keynote (let alone any of the Dev. Workshops); or, at best, only owns one Apple product, and so hasn't experienced how Apple's spectacular integration comes in handy in the unexpected and most-pleasant ways, day after day, year after year.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
          I don't like {Thing} therefore, no one should like {Thing}. If they do, it's just because they are dumb and not smart like me.

        • Apple's hardware has been reduced to nothing more than a fashion statement.

          Spoken like a person that either doesn't own an Apple product and doesn't bother to watch things like the recent WWDC Keynote (let alone any of the Dev. Workshops); or, at best, only owns one Apple product, and so hasn't experienced how Apple's spectacular integration comes in handy in the unexpected and most-pleasant ways, day after day, year after year.

          My first Apple product was a IIc. I currently own a Mac Mini (2012), MBP (2018), iPad (6th Gen), and iPhone 11.

          If you cannot actually provide an example of this other-worldly integration that somehow blows away everyone else's "sync" capability, then I question if you are the poor fanboi who only watches from afar. And since Apple is one of the major players who is in constant legal battles for basically stealing designs, I'd say it's rather obvious they're not even trying to be unique.

          They're good, but i

    • Apple builds this store, creates the tech to consume it and then asks to get paid for it. How dare they ask for money.

      That's not the issue, and if it were there would never be an anti-trust case brought against them in the EU.

      Their issue is that they are forcing others to use their payment means and then taking a cut. It's no different than you leasing a store in a shopping centre only to be told a condition of doing so is that you have to use the shopping centre's own bank and payment terminals when customers come to you to shop.

      Anyway ultimately what you or I think is irrelevant, this is up to the EC and the courts on a

      • only to be told a condition of doing so is that you have to use the shopping centre's own bank and payment terminals when customers come to you to shop.

        So long as there is another shopping center in town, and the government has not mandated shopping at the one you describe, then no government âoeprotectionsâ are warranted.

        • You seem to think anti-trust only applies if you have an exclusive monopoly. I'm not sure if you think that due to a complete lack of understanding of how anti-trust works or due to unwavering faith in free market capitalism, something which never works out well for consumers or markets in general. Either way, I'm glad people who wrote laws don't think like you.

          • You seem to think anti-trust only applies if you have an exclusive monopoly. I'm not sure if you think that due to a complete lack of understanding of how anti-trust works or due to unwavering faith in free market capitalism, something which never works out well for consumers or markets in general. Either way, I'm glad people who wrote laws don't think like you.

            I said nothing about an "exclusive monopoly".

            But when the marketshare chart looks like the one linked below, "monopoly" doesn't belong as a description of the smaller-piece-holder, when it is roughly 75% Android vs. roughly 25% iOS.

            https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
      Is the issue the cost of putting the app in the App Store, or the fact that there is no alternative way to sell an app other than the App Store?

    • It's not about who built it, it's about who uses it, and who's controlled by it.

      If Apple wants full control of their playground, they can simply not sell their products to anyone.

      We exert control over corporations because their actions have consequences that reach past their pocketbooks.

  • Apple is absolutely right. There is a level playing field for every one not competing with Apple.

    Unfortunately for Apple, this case has nothing to do with developers competing with each other.

  • If the consumer is harmed they are still at risk.

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