A backlash against the app stores of Apple Inc. and Google is gaining steam, with a growing number of companies saying the tech giants are collecting too high a tax for connecting consumers to developers’ wares.
Netflix Inc. and video game makers Epic Games Inc. and Valve Corp. are among companies that have recently tried to bypass the app stores or complained about the cost of the tolls Apple and Google charge.
Grumbling about app store economics isn’t new. But the number of complaints, combined with new ways of reaching users, regulatory scrutiny and competitive pressure are threatening to undermine what have become digital goldmines for Apple and Google.
The end result will be special deals for major players, further destroying the last few vestiges of smaller indie developers that somehow have managed to survive until now.
Hi,
Why is Valve complaining that (according to the article) Apple and Google are charging a 15% commission? This is incredibly hypocritical considering that Valve themselves are charging a 30% commission on all Steam purchases.
While I do think all of these “stores” deserve criticism for various reasons; I think people are all complaining about the wrong things (e.g. complaining about prices/commissions that are the result of “no competition”, when they should be complaining about stores stifling competition).
– Brendan
Edited 2018-08-23 02:59 UTC
Apple and Google will continue playing this monopoly game until governments step in and put an end to their absurd cut and refusal to let users get software from somewhere else. Sure that might let in a virus here or there, but this monopoly type behavior and absolute control of what software users are allowed to use on their products is something that has to end. Unfortunately we live an era where the rich are winning a class war against everyone else, so the public support to actually improve the world may forever be stifled.
dark2,
While I agree that we deserve healthy competition rather than app store monopolies for every platform, the problem with regulating it now is that we’ve waited so long to intervene that much of the damage is already done. It won’t be possible to truly correct without significantly more draconian measures that frankly won’t pass. What’s a shame is that we saw all this coming years ago and nothing was done because of course not. If anything, the current US administration is only pushing for further corporate deregulation, so realistically the EU will have to go it alone, all the while continuing to be accused of bias against US tech firms since the US refuses to clean up its mess.
Having more and more of the economy be dependent upon so few megacorps is a stupid idea. If we have a too big to fail, round two, it won’t have been inevitable but rather that politicians were too stupid, dishonest, and greedy to do anything about it. We are in desperate need policies that promote more economic diversity rather than everything going to the top few!
Decades ago, even. Even today, there are people still arguing that their simplistic kind of freedom, that allows free entities to cut off freedom for others, is more free than a more nuanced kind of freedom that tries to guarantee the perpetuation of freedom.
So… Netflix, is a video store.
….. Steam, is an app store.
….. Spotify is a music store?
This are all businesses that are middle man just like the app store they dont like.
This is a problem for the real people app developer’s, not this multi million dollars companies.
1 out of 3 is not a good score. Steam is the only appropriate comparison here, since Netflix and Spotify are subscription streaming services, not content stores.