Apple has reacted further to the Australian purchaser watchdog’s probe of application marketplaces, this time dismissing characterization that the Apple App Store is the most dominant app marketplace and saying there are different options for iOS clients, for example, by going to a website.
“Apple perceives and treats other distributors of apps, for platforms other than iOS, as significant competitors whose pricing and policies constrain Apple’s ability to exercise power over developers,” the iPhone maker said in a submission [PDF] to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC)
“Apple is not in a position to disregard the environment in which its app marketplace operates and does not accept the Commission’s characterisation of the Apple App Store as ‘the most dominant app marketplace by a large margin’.”
The application store practices of Apple and Google are under the microscope by the ACCC as a feature of its digital platforms probe. The ACCC is worried about the market power held by both tech monsters in the application marketplace space.
In its accommodation, Apple contends that the ACCC’s position depends inaccurately with the understanding that there is a significant market disappointment emerging from Apple’s implied market power.
“Apple does not believe that, properly examined, that assumption is correct in the wider online context in which the app marketplace operates and is concerned that such an assumption means that the Commission’s analysis may not be examining whether that assumption is well founded as a starting point,” it said.
It believes that there is a healthy, competitive market.
Apple said it doesn’t consider that it has a substantial degree of power in any market applicable to the issues that are the subject of the ACCC’s present inquiry, nor does it concur that there is a market disappointment that requires regulatory intervention or legal activity to address.
“Apple faces competitive constraints from distribution alternatives within the iOS ecosystem (including developer websites and other outlets through which consumers may obtain third party apps and use them on their iOS devices) and outside iOS,” it said.
“Even if a user only owns iOS-based devices, distribution is far from limited to the Apple App Store because developers have multiple alternative channels to reach that user.
“The whole web is available to them, and iOS devices have unrestricted and uncontrolled access to it. One common approach is for users to purchase and consume digital content or services on a website.”
The Cupurtino monster likewise believes the Apple App Store contends straightforwardly with other software distribution platforms, for example, Google Play, Samsung Galaxy, and Amazon application stores, despite the fact that access to these “alternatives” isn’t conceded on iOS.
It likewise said it rivals different web-based application stores like Steam, Epic Games Store, PUBG, AppStream, Chrome Web Store, Setapp, or Microsoft Store.
As of now, application designers can’t publish and distribute a lot an application on an Apple cell phone without utilizing the Apple App Store. Engineers who offer “in-app” features, add-ons, or upgrades are needed to utilize Apple’s payment system, instead of an elective system.
Apple likewise energizes a commission of to 30% to engineers on the value of these transactions or any time a consumer purchases their application. It diminished this in November for some under its new offering, the App Store Small Business Program, what cuts commissions in half to 15% if designers acquire under $1 million from the entirety of their applications. Commissions return to 30%, be that as it may, if earnings cross the $1 million mark.
Apple told the ACCC its practice of charging a commission on particular kinds of transactions isn’t special.
“Many platforms charge commission rates comparable to or in excess of Apple’s … many platforms also charge users a service fee for payments on top of their commissions, while Apple does not,” it said.
“Equally, anti-circumvention provisions are necessary to protect consumers and partners alike and reduce free-riding by requiring transactions to take place on their secure platforms and to safeguard the business model adopted.”
