According to reports, at a hearing held by the US Congress on Wednesday, many application developers that rely on Apple and Google to distribute products were afraid of the two technology giants’ control over them. “We are very scared.” Match chief legal officer Jared Sine (Jared Sine) told the chairman of the U.S. Senate Antitrust Judiciary Subcommittee, Republican Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
In addition to representatives of Apple and Google, the hearings also included executives from dating app developer Match, anti-lost device maker Tile, and streaming media platform Spotify. They were all critical of these two technology giants. Application developers have expressed throughout the conference that the two companies can deal a heavy blow to their businesses by adjusting the rules of the app store. They also complained about the high fees for in-app purchases and the ambiguity of platform rules.
Match even directly accused Google of threatening itself. After the news of the company’s participation in the hearing was made public, Google also specifically called Match to ask why their testimony was inconsistent with the statement on the latest conference call. Match executives said on the conference call that they had a fruitful conversation with Google about 30% of in-app purchases. However, in his testimony, Google complained that Google “disguised as an open platform”, but actually possessed “monopoly power.”
Wilson White, Google’s senior director of public policy and government relations, argued that this was just a “sincere question” raised by Google’s business development team to Match, and did not mean a threat. Klaubcha said that he would conduct further investigations.
Join Our RealMi Central Channel On Telegram
Spotify’s chief legal officer Horacio Gutierrez (Horacio Gutierrez) said that after Spotify decided to publicly express dissatisfaction with Apple’s anti-competitive behavior and charging methods, “at least 4 obvious threats or retaliation.” This includes threatening to delete the Spotify app, refusing to promote it, and waiting for several months before approving a simple update.
“They are actually punishing us severely and forcing us to shut up,” he said.
Many application developers are also dissatisfied with Apple’s charging method. Gutierrez said that Apple even issued a “password” to Spotify, which prevented it from communicating with users about how to upgrade the paid version.
For example, Spotify allows users to upgrade outside of the iOS app, thereby avoiding 15% to 30% commissions. But because Spotify does not sell paid services through the iOS application, Apple also does not allow it to communicate with customers about upgrades through the application, forcing users to complete this operation only through a PC browser or other channels.
At the same time, Apple’s own Apple Music is not restricted. Gutierrez believes that this move gives App Music an unfair competitive advantage. Representatives of Apple and Google said that the fees they charge are to cover distribution costs and protect user safety.
In addition, developers are also worried that Apple may favor its own products in the decision-making process. For example, Kirsten Daru, the general counsel of anti-lost device manufacturer Tile, said that the company had applied to Apple to use the ultra-wideband technology on the iPhone to increase the accuracy of positioning, but Apple refused. However, the AirTag anti-lost device released by Apple on Tuesday can use this technology.
Although Apple is opening up technologies that can enhance positioning accuracy to third parties, Dalu said that in order to use this technology, “it is necessary to hand over unprecedented business control to Apple, and to import users into the Find My app to find lost Items.” Apple argued that AirTag and Tile are two different products, the latter currently has a majority market share, and the company’s opening of tools to third parties is also to encourage competition.
If you like our news and you want to see such news even further, then follow RealMi Central on Telegram (RealMi Central, Xiaomi, Apple, Realme, RMC Gaming, Samsung, Microsoft, OnePlus, Huawei/Honor, Android 12), Twitter, Facebook (Page) (Group) & Instagram.