![]() President Brad Smith said it’s time for antitrust regulators in the U.S. Regulators there are particularly concerned about how the company forces many developers to use its App Store payment service for subscriptions. Earlier this month, the European Union opened an antitrust investigation of the iPhone maker. Apple has said 84 per cent of apps are free and pay nothing to Apple, but declined further comment.Īspects of the department’s discussions with developers about Apple have been previously reported by Reuters, MLex, and Politico.Īpple has come under increasing fire in recent weeks. Representatives from Google and the Justice Department declined to comment. It isn’t clear whether scrutiny of Google Play is part of the Justice Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation into Google or whether the questions are being used to inform the Apple inquiry. The government is also asking questions about the Google Play app marketplace, two of the people said. I’m really glad that the DOJ is looking into this, because we need both legislative action, but also enforcement.” “We shared our experience, relayed the experience of others, and put them in contact with a developer who didn’t want to go public with their story. “We’ve spoken with the DOJ regarding Apple and the App Store twice,” said David Heinemeier Hansson, the founder of software company Basecamp, which created the Hey email app, in an interview. The Justice Department has met with both high-profile and small developers that sell apps. In early conversations with the Justice Department, at least one developer was asked if Apple lowering its 30 per cent cut would solve its concerns, but the person said the problem is less the commission and more that Apple doesn’t allow an alternate payment system. In the latest meetings with at least one major developer, the number of department lawyers also has increased, one of the people said. At least one major developer has had meetings with the department over the past 10 months, with conversations becoming more frequent in recent weeks. Sometimes developers approached the Justice Department, while at times the government made the initial contact, the people said. In the Apple inquiry, the government’s lawyers have also asked developers about the App Store review process, during which Apple evaluates and either approves or rejects an app based on a series of guidelines, the people said. The Justice Department was set to meet Friday with state attorneys general about plans to sue Google for antitrust violations, according to one of the people. The scrutiny shows that investigations of the country’s biggest tech firms overseen by Attorney General William Barr continue to grow a year after they began. inquiry into Apple’s App Store policies was described as serious by a person familiar with the case. That probe is at a more advanced stage and a case could be brought as soon as this summer, some of the people said. Most of the resources of the department’s antitrust division are focused on an investigation into Alphabet Inc.’s Google that involves the search giant’s power in the digital advertising market. The inquiry is continuing and no final decisions have been made about whether to bring a case. The Justice Department has been interviewing developers about Apple since mid-2019, the people said. ![]() ![]() Apple pockets up to a 30-per-cent cut when apps use the payment technology. Government lawyers have met with developers as recently as last week and are asking questions about Apple’s rules that require apps to use its App Store payment system for subscriptions, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing a confidential matter. antitrust investigation of Apple Inc., Justice Department lawyers are scrutinizing rules that require many app makers to use the company’s payment system, according to people familiar with the matter.
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