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Apple Denies Abusing French Developers, Says They've Earned 1 Billion Euros From App Store

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Apple has issued a statement defending against allegations made by France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire, who earlier this week accused the iPhone maker of treating French startups and developers unfairly.

apple-france-logo-800x600.jpg

In the statement, loosely translated from French to English, Apple said it has "strong relationships" with French developers, and added that they have collectively earned one billion euros in revenue from the App Store.

Le Figaro via MacGeneration:
We are proud to have strong relationships with tens of thousands of developers across France, who have earned 1 billion euros on the App Store. Many of these talented developers founded their companies with one or two people and then saw their teams grow to offer their applications to users in 155 countries. This was only possible thanks to Apple's investment in iOS, development tools, and the App Store.

Apple has always defended the confidentiality and security of users and does not have access to user transactions with third-party applications. We are fully prepared to share our history in the French courts and to clarify this misunderstanding. In the meantime, we will continue to help French developers realize their dreams and support French students in their learning of the code through our coding program.
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Le Maire said France will be taking Apple and Google to court in Paris for "abusive trade practices." In a radio interview, he mentioned that Apple and Google "take all their data" and "can unilaterally rewrite their contracts."
"I learned that when developers develop their applications, and sell to Google and Apple, their prices are imposed, Google and Apple take all their data, Google and Apple can unilaterally rewrite their contracts," Le Maire said in an interview with RTL radio. "All that is unacceptable and it's not the economy that we want. They can't treat our startups and developers the way they do."

"I will therefore be taking Google and Apple to the Paris commercial court for abusive trade practices," Le Maire said.
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It's not very clear what Le Maire is referring to exactly. It's possible the bit about prices being "imposed" refers to the 30 percent cut that Apple and Google collect from sales of apps and in-app purchases, but his comments were vague.

Article Link: Apple Denies Abusing French Developers, Says They've Earned 1 Billion Euros From App Store
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/03/15/apple-responds-to-bruno-le-maire/
This from the country that fined a baker 3,000 euros because he opened 7 days a week during peak visitor season. His was the only place in the village where you could buy freshly baked bread, so he opened every day to both provide a much needed service and make the most of peak season. He is now fighting the fine.

I really don't understand the overly protective nature of French employment law. Whilst it's a great country that really values regional specialities, sometimes it feels a little bit too keen to shoot itself in the foot!!

Nobody forces anyone to put apps on the App Store. They know the deal they are getting in to.
 
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If you don't like the deal offered, don't write the app. If you don't want to pay Amazon 30% don't post items to sell on Amazon. Pure and simple French government pandering to people who expect Apple/Google/Whoever to provide them with a platform to sell their products for free. Maybe the French developers will get a better deal from Huawei. Silliness, but the French attorney community will be smiling:)
 
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WBRacing said:
Makes for a nice distraction though.
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Exactly

Moakesy said:
This from the country that fined a baker 3,000 euros because he opened 7 days a week during peak visitor season. His was the only place in the village where you could buy freshly baked bread, so he opened every day to both provide a much needed service and make the most of peak season. He is now fighting the fine.

I really don't understand the overly protective nature of French employment law. Whilst it's a great country that really values regional specialities, sometimes it feels a little bit too keen to shoot itself in the foot!!

Nobody forces anyone to put apps on the App Store. They know the deal they are getting in to.
Click to expand...

While I don't disagree with you the fact is one has to abide by the law.
 
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There are two main problems with the iOS App Store:

1.) Apple has a complete Stranglehold on App Discovery, and even more so now that it's basically a Curated App Store.

2.) Their "App Rankings" algorithm is catastrophically broken !

The problems could be EASILY fixed in just a few days by a competent team of Engineers / Developers, but for whatever reason, Apple likes to keep it the way it is.

Games and Streaming Media Content apps do well in the iOS App Store ... everything else doesn't !

Apple has never provided a breakdown, by category, of Revenue, and it's because Apple doesn't want that Info getting out ... the Retard so-called Pro Stock Analysts have never figured things out, AND Apple probably loves it that way !
 
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EUSSR - nuff said

And my family lives in it. Not France though.

Paying 55% income tax on all you earn PLUS mandatory health care - for the same amount we could have a very nice private plan with WAY better coverage - PLUS 20% VAT on - almost - all purchases PLUS inflated energy costs PLUS inflated municipal taxes PLUS you have to pay for private schools unless you want your kid to not learn his/her own language properly in school ...
 
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Glideslope said:
Just a continuation of EU money grabs as total revenue for the Nation States falls. ;)
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While France is in the EU, the EU is not France.

nekonokami said:
EUSSR - nuff said

And my family lives in it. Not France though.

Paying 55% income tax on all you earn PLUS mandatory health care - for the same amount we could have a very nice private plan with WAY better coverage - PLUS 20% VAT on - almost - all purchases PLUS inflated energy costs PLUS inflated municipal taxes PLUS you have to pay for private schools unless you want your kid to not learn his/her own language properly in school ...
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I don't pay 55%
And as for your EUSSR remark, keep that comment to yourself, the USA has also problems EU citizens don't understand at all.
 
Oh, Please.

"We are proud to have strong relationships"

By that they mean they have a strong grip on what they do.

Make no mistake, you do what WE WANT you to do or your apps WILL get pulled from the store and you have zero recourse and no other stores to sell them on(iOS).
 
asdavis10 said:
If this is in relation to Apple's 30% cut, Apple does not have a monopoly on phones/tablets, apps, or app stores. Developers have choice.
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Even if they didn't have a choice, the 30% cut is there for a reason. Apple provides developers with a downloading platform and infrastructure, and syncing capabilities with iCloud API's if they so desire.
Most small developers wouldn't even be able to cover the costs associated with downloading and syncing services.
 
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nekonokami said:
EUSSR - nuff said

And my family lives in it. Not France though.

Paying 55% income tax on all you earn PLUS mandatory health care - for the same amount we could have a very nice private plan with WAY better coverage - PLUS 20% VAT on - almost - all purchases PLUS inflated energy costs PLUS inflated municipal taxes PLUS you have to pay for private schools unless you want your kid to not learn his/her own language properly in school ...
Click to expand...

And which country would have a significant lower tax rate that is part of the western world? (Hint: the US has a max income tax rate of 57% according to wikipedia).
 
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