Mike Wuerthele
Secure messaging platform Telegram has become the third big developer to file an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union, railing against Apple's control and fees on the App Store.
Filed on Thursday morning, Telegram's complaint with the European Commission is mostly focused on Apple's fees and rules it implements in the App Store. Specifically cited were Telegram's attempt to open a gaming platform in 2016, that Apple shut down, claiming it violated app store rules.
Telegram says that because of Apple's rejection, the company as a whole "risked being deleted from the App Store." It isn't clear why the company believes this is the case, as apps can be rejected during the App Store review process, without impacting other apps that a company has developed. At present, no supporting documents are publicly available to validate this claim.
In the complaint, spotted by the Financial Times, Telegram also alleges that the rejection is a prime example of Apple's power in the marketplace, and the ability it may have to "curb innovation thanks to its 'monopolistic power' on the app market."
Telegram's complaint follows an open letter, published on July 27 by the company. In the letter, Telegram rails against Apple's App Store fees, and cites "7 myths" about it, commonly used to defend the fee.
Specifically, Telegram decries arguments that the fee is used to maintain the app store, it allows Apple to reinvest in building better iPhones, and the argument that the 30% fee is in-line with what other platforms are charging. Other points include a debate about if there is actual competition offered from other platforms.
Beyond Telegram's questionable claim in the note that "Apple has been trying to catch up with Android phones in features and hardware," it also isn't clear where the some of the seven points are sourced from. For instance, Apple also doesn't claim that the 30% commission allows Apple to reinvest in building better phones. Additionally, in regards to the first argument that Telegram makes, It isn't a requirement in any country that the App Store be financially run at the break-even point.
Apple did publish a study showing the 30% fee is in line with other paid stores, but the study only briefly touched on alternatives, sometimes free, to Android app distribution. Neither the report nor Telegram's open letter mention that Xcode users can load apps on a phone that have to be re-signed once a week for free users, and once a year for paid developer account.
Telegram's complaint with the European Commission follows Spotify and Rakuten complaints, over similar matters. It also comes less than 24 hours after Tim Cook testified in front of a US Congressional panel, intended to get to the bottom of anti-trust issues that big tech companies face.
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
15 Comments
Sounds like Telegram is trying to prove a case against their own straw man of what Apple is, and somehow anyway end up having the real Apple pay for the damages done to Telegram in their own heads by their own straw man of Apple… :D
"But you honor, we know Apple didn't actually say and do these things, but we were thinking that they did, so we still think that Apple should compensate us for how hurt we got by our own thoughts."
Whenever I see these whiny complaints about the 30%, I am struck by the fact that no alternative, more reasonable percentage is ever offered. That is because at the end of the day, the real complaint is that they have to pay anything at all. The argument is that Apple is wealthy so they should give their App Store services away for free. If Apple reduced the fee to 1%, these people still wouldn't be happy. That is why I dismiss all such complaints as dishonest. No one is interested in a conversation about what might be a reasonable fee. ALL fees are unreasonable to them. When I see complaints by these developers, I just make a note to never use their apps.
It is astounding how these developers complain to the EU about the "monopoly power" of a company whose market share in Europe is around 27%.
27% means Apple is not selling smart phones because there are no other alternatives out there. It means that people buying the iPhone are choosing it because it presents the best value for them, not because they have no other choice.
Apple is making money on the iPhone the old fashioned way (by selling the best product) not the Amazon-Google-Facebook way (selling the only product available).
When you start punishing companies for being successful by selling the highest quality products, you might as well abandon the free enterprise system because you're turning the very essence of that system into an illegal act.