In the past week or so, huge changes have happened to Apple’s App Store. These changes are meant to come across as being more pro-developer, but Spotify feels like even though those changes are welcome, they aren’t enough. This is according to a tweet by Horacio Gutierrez, Spotify’s Chief Legal Officer.
He shared a comparison chart that showed some of the restrictions still in place in the App Store while comparing it to an open market. He also noted that some of the concessions Apple made, such as allowing developers to reach out to users via email to let them know of alternative payment methods is too narrow in scope and isn’t necessarily applicable to all apps.
Apple’s selective tweaks to its App Store rules are welcome, but they don’t go far enough. #TimetoPlayFair pic.twitter.com/z3FasGsXNX
— Horacio Gutierrez (@horaciog) September 2, 2021
Like we said, huge changes are happening right now such as over in South Korea where Apple (and Google) are now being ordered to allow third-party payment services. Over in Japan, Apple has also announced that they will allow reader apps to direct users to an external site to manage their accounts.
However, that isn’t the end of it as over in India, it appears that a non-profit group has raised an antitrust case against Apple over the 30% commission that the company takes for all app and in-app purchases. We imagine that over time Apple will probably make further concessions and changes, especially if they want to avoid lengthy legal battles and court ordered changes, so only time will tell how this might work out for developers in the long-run.