Apple rebuts House antitrust report, says developers 'primary beneficiaries' of App Store

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2020
Apple in a statement issued on Tuesday said it "vehemently disagrees" with a U.S. House Judiciary report that claims the tech giant enjoys a monopoly with the App Store.

App Store


The response targets the congressional subcommittee's findings in relation to Apple's business practices. Specifically, the report takes issue with Apple's tight control over the App Store, the only app marketplace allowed on iOS devices.

According to lawmakers, Apple leverages its "monopoly power" of software distribution to "generate supra-normal profits from the App Store and its Services business." The App Store's 30% fee for purchases and in-app transactions are at the heart of the matter, with today's report claiming the company pushes developers into detrimental contracts. Other areas of scrutiny include mergers, first-party app priority, App Store search rankings, and services like Apple Pay and Siri.

Apple for its part disagrees with the panel's findings. The company in the past stated App Store rules and regulations are in place to create an equal playing field for all developers. Further, the guidelines help keep customer data safe and facilitate an unmatched user experience. For example, more than 150,000 App Store submissions were denied last year for violating rules regarding user privacy, Apple said.

Apple's statement in full:
"We have always said that scrutiny is reasonable and appropriate but we vehemently disagree with the conclusions reached in this staff report with respect to Apple. Our company does not have a dominant market share in any category where we do business. From its beginnings 12 years ago with just 500 apps, we've built the App Store to be a safe and trusted place for users to discover and download apps and a supportive way for developers to create and sell apps globally. Hosting close to two million apps today, the App Store has delivered on that promise and met the highest standards for privacy, security and quality. The App Store has enabled new markets, new services and new products that were unimaginable a dozen years ago, and developers have been primary beneficiaries of this ecosystem. Last year in the United States alone, the App Store facilitated $138 billion in commerce with over 85% of that amount accruing solely to third-party developers. Apple's commission rates are firmly in the mainstream of those charged by other app stores and gaming marketplaces. Competition drives innovation, and innovation has always defined us at Apple. We work tirelessly to deliver the best products to our customers, with safety and privacy at their core, and we will continue to do so."
The company said it will issue a more comprehensive statement that refutes aspects of the investigation's allegations.

The subcommittee's conclusory report wraps an examination of dominant big tech firms that dates back more than a year. Along with Apple, panel members scrutinized the businesses of Amazon, Facebook and Google in a wide-reaching effort to modernize anti-competition law.

While the report falls short of an explicit call to breakup companies like Apple, it endorses structural separations and other changes that could fundamentally alter the tech landscape.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 33
    KuyangkohKuyangkoh Posts: 838member
    I guess you need to give more money for them to spend.....like theres no tomorrow. Pathetic Congress 
    cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 33
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,496member
    Apple's vehemence could have been much stronger. E.g., "If we [Apple] removed the app store completely, would the House be happier? How much profit overall does the House Judiciary Committee think is permissible when all costs are considered? Did/does the House think it was a monopoly problem before we created the App Store? Does the House even know what Apple's App Store expenses are? Have they even asked Apple, or are they speaking without knowledge of the facts?"
    spock1234cornchipBeats
  • Reply 3 of 33
    ivanhivanh Posts: 597member
    I like to see a big Apple over the years. But when anything getting too big, it will become a monster. 
  • Reply 4 of 33
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,392member
    bshank said:
    castcore said:
    Go Apple! Kill. These moron Democrat House members!
    Congressional Republicans have said plenty of stupid things as well to be fair. The idea of breaking up Apple is really really bad
    I am not a Republican. But I am not sure about your claim: what have they said about Apple that fall the category of "stupid"?

    Just curious, that's all.
    spock1234SpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 33
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,392member
    Can't help but note the fact that Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, all with leadership that could fairly be described as being left-of-center, are being hoisted by questionable, possibly even even vacuous, charges brought by their own.

    Ah, the irony...
    edited October 2020 spock1234SpamSandwichcornchipBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 33
    80s_Apple_Guy80s_Apple_Guy Posts: 286member
    I don’t get how a company that makes a product and the software for it can be says to be a monopoly. Especially when it controls a fraction of the market. This is asinine. 
    cornchipBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 33
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    80s_Apple_Guy said:
    I don’t get how a company that makes a product and the software for it can be says to be a monopoly. Especially when it controls a fraction of the market. This is asinine. 
    For me, the most telling statement of cluelessness is stating Google is a monopoly. So in the future, companies must make sure they don’t become too successful in any one product they make, or risk their whole operation being broken up or over-sighted to death. 


    gatorguyBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 33
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Honestly Apple needs to be screwed over royally.   A different management team could have taken the company in a less controversial direction and made more money.   Instead the drove the company with anti consumer policies, a massive amount of corporate double speak and frankly a lot of crappy  products that didn’t live up to Apple’s legacy (Mac).  
    spock1234Beats
  • Reply 9 of 33
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,063member
    Rayz2016 said:
    80s_Apple_Guy said:
    I don’t get how a company that makes a product and the software for it can be says to be a monopoly. Especially when it controls a fraction of the market. This is asinine. 
    For me, the most telling statement of cluelessness is stating Google is a monopoly. So in the future, companies must make sure they don’t become too successful in any one product they make, or risk their whole operation being broken up or over-sighted to death. 


    Reminder: in the US, being a monopoly is not illegal. Your local electric company, for example, is almost certainly a monopoly. Where being a monopoly becomes a problem is if said entity is abusing their monopoly. I think there's plenty of evidence from both inside and outside the digital business realm that 30 percent for the infrastructure and audience that Apple/Google/Microsoft/FB/Steam/Amazon and other online stores command is well within reason. Indeed it is hard to name a business where the markup on wholesale is less than 30 percent!

    Apple is probably going to end up being less of a target here than some of the others, in particular Amazon. In addition most of the money the App Store makes going to developers (most of whom qualify as small businesses), Apple is the #1 top taxpayer business in the United States, bar none, not to mention a strategic American success story globally.

    Amazon, by comparison, pays no taxes -- for no discernible reason. So if we're talking monopoly abuse, which one almost immediately seems more fishy to you?
    spock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 33
    qwerty52qwerty52 Posts: 366member
    Apple said: From its beginnings 12 years ago with just 500 apps, we've built the App Store to be a safe and trusted place for users to discover and download apps and a supportive way for developers to create and sell apps globally.

    And we (the users), would like to see AppStore stay unchanged, like it is now!
    Gilliam_BatescornchipBeatswatto_cobraDetnator
  • Reply 11 of 33
    qwerty52qwerty52 Posts: 366member
    Why I have the impression that the people in the House Judiciary Committee, just don’t have the knowledge to handle such problems,
    and their decisions are driven only by the desire to satisfy their lobbyists?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 33
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,496member
    wizard69 said:
    Honestly Apple needs to be screwed over royally.   A different management team could have taken the company in a less controversial direction and made more money.   Instead the[y] drove the company with anti consumer policies  
    They main reason I buy Apple is because I adore their consumer policies. If you don't like them, don't buy them, but don't try to take my freedom of choice away from me. Are you a communist, trying to take away people's freedoms? 
    watto_cobraDetnator
  • Reply 13 of 33
    Gilliam_BatesGilliam_Bates Posts: 198member
    ivanh said:
    I like to see a big Apple over the years. But when anything getting too big, it will become a monster. 
    Why? There’s no universal law that’s been found to prove that. It’s just poorly governed growth.
    Beatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 33
    Gilliam_BatesGilliam_Bates Posts: 198member
    wizard69 said:
    Honestly Apple needs to be screwed over royally.   A different management team could have taken the company in a less controversial direction and made more money.   Instead the drove the company with anti consumer policies, a massive amount of corporate double speak and frankly a lot of crappy  products that didn’t live up to Apple’s legacy (Mac).  
    Yeah, that’s exactly why they are such a tiny company with such poor results on customer satisfaction surveys.
    roundaboutnowBeatsFileMakerFellerwatto_cobraDetnator
  • Reply 15 of 33
    j2fusionj2fusion Posts: 153member
    wizard69 said:
    Honestly Apple needs to be screwed over royally.   A different management team could have taken the company in a less controversial direction and made more money.   Instead the drove the company with anti consumer policies, a massive amount of corporate double speak and frankly a lot of crappy  products that didn’t live up to Apple’s legacy (Mac).  
    And this is exactly why Apple is not a monopoly!  You don’t have to by their products.  There’s Android with all its spyware from some obscure App Store and lack of support. What is the longest an Android product gets updates...
    edited October 2020 Beatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 33
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,392member
    chasm said:

    Amazon, by comparison, pays no taxes -- for no discernible reason. So if we're talking monopoly abuse, which one almost immediately seems more fishy to you?
    That is incorrect. Amazon pays no taxes because of their large tax loss carryforwards (US companies can carry forward any amount of cumulative losses to set off against future income, for up to 20 years).
  • Reply 17 of 33
    sacto joesacto joe Posts: 895member
    Can't help but note the fact that Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, all with leadership that could fairly be described as being left-of-center, are being hoisted by questionable, possibly even even vacuous, charges brought by their own.

    Ah, the irony...
    “Can't help but note the fact that Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, all with leadership that could fairly be described as being [moderate] are being hoisted by questionable, possibly even even vacuous, charges brought by their own.”

    There. Fixed it for you.

    But I can understand how you could make the mistake. The Republicans have moved so far to the right that it makes moderates seem lliberal.
    stourqueFileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 33
    sacto joesacto joe Posts: 895member
    Lock-step thinking isn’t the sole provence of a particular political party, as has been starkly shown in the last couple of days. There’s no easy way to be rational, because thinking deeply and objectively is hard work. But it does seem that politicians in general are pretty lazy thinkers - or else just willing to do incredibly stupid stuff in service to a vested interest. Citizens need to take everything they say or do with a very, very large grain of salt.
    edited October 2020 watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 33
    johnbearjohnbear Posts: 160member
    30%? Come on Apple! 
  • Reply 20 of 33
    sacto joesacto joe Posts: 895member
    johnbear said:
    30%? Come on Apple! 
    Not enough? Too much? And it drops to 15% after a year.

    They are allowed a profit after expenses, right? Especially considering the incredible job they’re doing?
    Beatswatto_cobra
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