While there are millions of apps in Apple’s App Store, suggesting that many are flocking to Apple’s distribution platform, it was never always a smooth sailing experience. So much so that it seems that a bunch of companies that Apple might have “wronged” in the past have banded together to form what they are calling the Coalition for App Fairness.
This includes companies such as Epic, Spotify, and Basecamp, the developers behind the Hey email app, and all of whom have had issues with Apple at some point in time. These companies are now banding together to either force app store providers, such as Apple, to change their policies to make them more “fair”, or to force regulation.
Some of the key issues at hand that the coalition is hoping to address is how companies like Apple are taking a 30% commission from sales of apps or in-app purchases. They are also upset that there are no alternative means of distributing apps to iOS devices other than the App Store, which in turn forces them to comply with Apple’s rules and terms.
Some might argue that Apple’s tight control over the App Store has provided some degree of quality assurance for end-users, where for the most part, they know that apps downloaded from the App Store can be trusted to do what it says it does. On the other hand, others are saying that the rules are too restrictive and to a certain extent, anti-competitive.
We’re not sure how big of an impact this coalition will have on Apple and the app market in general, but it is clear that more than a handful of developers have reached their tipping point and are unhappy with how Apple is handling things.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, iOS, iPad and iPhone. Source: appfairness.org