Apple seeks to toss $1 billion UK lawsuit over App Store fees

Apple on Tuesday asked a London tribunal to throw out a class action lawsuit valued at around $1 billion brought on behalf of more than 1,500 app developers over its App Store fees.
Sam Tobin for Reuters:
‎

The case, worth up to 785 million pounds ($998 million) and one of several faced by the tech giant in the United Kingdom, alleges Apple charged third-party developers unfair commissions of up to 30% on purchases of apps or other content.
Sean Ennis, a competition law professor and a former economist at the OECD, is spearheading the case which was filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) last year.
His lawyers say Apple has abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of apps on its devices and are seeking damages for UK-based developers.
Apple, however, says 85% of developers on its App Store do not pay any commission at all and is asking the CAT to throw out the case which its lawyers argue is “unsustainable.”

‎
MacDailyNews Take: It’s Apple’s App Store. Of course they have a right to charge commissions; for ANY amount they wish to charge, in fact. A properly run company will maximize commission based on what the market will bear.
Apple does not have a monopoly on smartphones. If developers think Apple’s App Store commissions are too much, they can go peddle their apps to Android users. Good luck with that. Apple offers access to customers with money and the willingness to spend it on quality products. That has a value. Apple invested billions to build its brand and attract quality customers over decades.
Apple’s App Store isn’t a charity and it’s not free to operate. – MacDailyNews, November 14, 2022
How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022
That said, as we wrote in December 2022:
Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).
iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.
These moves, including removing the mandate to use WebKit, Apple’s Safari browsing engine, in third-party browsers, will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the threat of anti-trust actions against Apple for the foreseeable future.
Also, expect Gatekeeper to come to iOS and iPadOS from macOS.
‎
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple seeks to toss $1 billion UK lawsuit over App Store fees appeared first on MacDailyNews.