And that’s four. For the fourth week in a row, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) is increasing the penalty that Apple has to pay. As long as the conditions of the iPhone download store are ‘unreasonable’ in the words of ACM, the penalty payment will increase by five million euros every week.
The counter is now up twenty million – another six weeks until the maximum penalty of fifty million euros is reached. Apple is in no rush; such an amount is less than a rounding error for the company, which had $124 billion in revenue and $34.6 billion in profit last quarter.
Despite the modest penalty, ACM ends up on the front line of the fight against powerful tech companies. †The Dutch case’ is of international interest because ACM was one of the first competition authorities to establish that Apple imposes unreasonable conditions on app developers.
The adjustments in the Dutch App Store are limited to dating apps. But the complaint is universal: The iPhone maker forces software developers to pay through Apple and typically charges a 30 percent commission on digital purchases.
At the behest of ACM, Apple created an option to make payments outside the App Store. That escape route throws so many new ones administrative barriers that it is in fact a dead end. In addition, Apple still asks a lot of commission (although it is 27 percent instead of 30 percent).
For years, Apple could dictate the rules in the App Store. Always in the name of consumer interest: users benefit from well-controlled apps and a reliable payment system. But Apple downplays the economic advantage it gains from a boarded-up download store.
ACM found a loose thread in the conditions. And once you start pulling on it, the unraveling is unstoppable.
Protesting big tech is big business. Companies such as Epic Games, Match.com and Spotify have sued Apple and Google. These lawsuits have had varying degrees of success, but they are causing regulators to scrutinize the terms of the digital marketplaces and legislators to prepare stricter rules. The EU is taking in april a decision.
Now that the edges of the App Store are fraying, new parties are reporting. Litigation financier Fortress is behind a Dutch mass claim against Apple and asked media entrepreneur Alexander Klöpping to take the lead of ‘Bigtechfairplay’.
In addition to being a familiar face, Klöpping is also an experience expert; as founder of Blendle, he knows how dependent you are as a developer on Apple’s whims and whims.
He found the right tone and left a billboard places with the traditional Dutch slogan ‘You too have paid too much for apps’. Consumers have to accept the terms of download stores; a mass claim could retroactively take away some of that powerless feeling.
There is another party that follows discussion about the download stores of Apple and Google closely. Microsoft seizes the opportunity to present itself as the best boy in the class. The doors are wide open in the Microsoft Store: unlike on your iPhone, on a laptop or PC you can decide for yourself where you get your software from and how you pay for it.
In a blog post Microsoft says it stands firm for these ‘Open App Store’ principles and refers to the Dutch ACM case. There is, however, a catch. Feel free to say an adder. Microsoft plans to acquire game publisher Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion. The only way to get such a purchase through in a time of big tech allergy is to placate regulators and regulators now.
Marc Hijink writes about technology here. Twitter: @MarcHijinkNRC
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of February 16, 2022