Dutch Antitrust Watchdog to Investigate Whether Apple Gives Itself Preferential Treatment in App Store [Updated]

genovelle said:
Does Walmart give preference to the store brand products. Yes they do. It would be stupid on their part not to.
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I agree with you on the example you gave but the AppStore has a little more nuance than that. Apple set very strict guidelines that restrict what you can or can't do with the product you can put on their shelves, yet they don't apply those same rules to their own. So it's not just a business agreement of it being on the shelf but an agreement on what that product is allowed to do or how powerful it can be (i.e. it's function) in the first place.

For what it's worth I don't think anything will come of this but it's always been an unfair advantage as a developer to have Apple do something that you were told you weren't allowed to do and then taking sales away from you on that very fact.
 
norbinhouston said:
Yes, last I checked Houston is in the USA. And here I thought Europeans knew geography.

BTW, thanks for the compliment that I must be American. Since America invented all the things you needed to post your opinion. You're welcome.
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It must be scary for you to here that most of the inventions in your iPhone come from Europe and some of them even from the Netherlands.
You have some reading up to do. Maybe Wiki would be a nice start?
 
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farewelwilliams said:
You release on Android and customers will switch from iOS to Android.

This isn't different than...Playstation offering games through their Playstation Network Store. If you wanted to release a porn game on Playstation, you couldn't do that. Much like you can't release a porn game on the App Store. If you don't like what Sony is doing, you go to Microsoft or Valve and users have to buy a different console.

Video game platforms have been doing this for decades, but it's not until Apple got big is when people started complaining.
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No this is very different.
If I want to run a game on a PlayStation, can the Playstation run the program from a disc?
The answer is yes.

Let's make sure the comparison is valid.
If Apple treats it's own applications differently, then there is an issue if that difference makes other applications second class.

Saying that people should just use Android or go develop for Android s not the answer.
Apple made a play for an open environment to get a foothold in the smartphone market.
Now to skew the application store to get an advantage is revenue would be a problem. Using undocumented APIs or treating the vetting process for third parties differently than Apple applications is a problem.
 
@norbinhouston Now lets see...
GSM/SMS/UMTS/LTE - Europe (UMTS and forward developed all over the world, but Europe leads the work)
WiFi - Netherlands
Bluetooth - Sweden
TCP/IP - USA, but they heavily credited French research
HTML - Switzerland
Touch Screen - England
Computer - England
ARM CPU - England
LiIon battery - England
Digital Camera - USA (yay)
Digital Sound (PCM) - Japan

Now, you're welcome.
 
Bestevaer said:
Funny... At the start of the iphone Apple needed the companies to develop apps. Now that Apple knows what generates money they come with competing apps. But those apps of Apple don't have to pay an extra 30% for the first year and 15% for the years after.
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ROFL. When the iPhone launched, there was no App Store. And Apple had pretty much the same apps (iTunes/iPod) on the iPhone that they have now. IIRC Steve Jobs wanted WebApps and no native apps for the phones.

I'm not saying Apple is above board - far from it, remember Dashboard and Konfabulator. But in this case, I would say Spotify is whining that no one is giving them a free pass. Sadly for them, Apple isn't in the business to make loads of $$$ for Spotify shareholders.
 
Besides Apple Music and now the News app, what apps does Apple charge for where getting preferential treatment could matter?

As a user, if I was searching for a music app (or News app) and I couldn't easily find the app by the company that I purchased my device from, I'd be upset by that...

Regardless, don't those two apps come preinstalled on an iPhone? see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208094
 
jlc1978 said:
True, but Apple has to pay for maintaining the apps store, curating apps, localizing the store, etc, so it's not exactly free of costs for them either. I just do not understand the notion that Apple should somehow let app developers have access to the app store free of charge. 15% is not an unreasonable markup; nor 30% to cover the costs of initial review. Even so, for many apps I doubt the money they get covers their costs. If Apple charged a fixed fee for access and review many of the apps currently on there would not exist.
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Since when is the developer’s yearly fee “free of charge”? All developers have to pay to get their app into the App Store whether the app is free or not.

Also I’m sure that Apple has all their costs covered. There’s no way on God’s green earth that Apple would foot the bill for upkeep and maintenance.
 
bollman said:
@norbinhouston Now lets see...
GSM/SMS/UMTS/LTE - Europe (UMTS and forward developed all over the world, but Europe leads the work)
WiFi - Netherlands
Bluetooth - Sweden
TCP/IP - USA, but they heavily credited French research
HTML - Switzerland
Touch Screen - England
Computer - England
ARM CPU - England
LiIon battery - England
Digital Camera - USA (yay)
Digital Sound (PCM) - Japan

Now, you're welcome.
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The cellular phone.
Internet.
Graphic User Interface.
Micro Proccessor.
Personal Computer.
The Smartphone.
Google. Yahoo. etc etc.

Maybe you guys can say some european country invented the philips screw to make yourselves feel superior. lol.


You’re welcome.
 
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rocknblogger said:
Since when is the developer’s yearly fee “free of charge”? All developers have to pay to get their app into the App Store whether the app is free or not.

Also I’m sure that Apple has all their costs covered. There’s no way on God’s green earth that Apple would foot the bill for upkeep and maintenance.
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I did not say it was free, I questioned why people think "Apple should somehow let app developers have access to the app store free of charge." Very different point.

I agree Apple probably covers their costs, and because they have costs to it is reasonable to charge for access to the store.
 
techwhiz said:
No this is very different.
If I want to run a game on a PlayStation, can the Playstation run the program from a disc?
The answer is yes.
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Your game has to be licensed by Sony (disc or download from the online store) or else your game will not run on the console. You can't release a porn PSVR game for any gamer to buy without Sony signing off for example (they also take a licensing fee). There's no other way around it, so if you don't like Sony's rules, you can't sell a Playstation game any other way.

Xbox's upcoming console is also download only. There is no disc drive. This is the same as Apple.

My comparison is valid.
 
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Eh, this and other EU claims are lame. What's actually fishy is Apple giving preferential treatment to rideshare companies. How come Uber doesn't have to use Apple's in-app-purchases, but Spotify and Netflix do? Could it be because Uber isn't a competitor?
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genovelle said:
Does Walmart give preference to the store brand products. Yes they do. It would be stupid on their part not to.
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This is also illegal in the EU. They've banned Amazon Basics too.
Some people have too much time on their hands or want to power trip.
 
Heineken said:
Best djs? Amazing.
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I fear this was meant to be sarcastic, easy to pick just one out of the list and comment on it.
There's billions to be made in Music, Holland is quite a big player on the music market, for instance a lot of those "House" parties are organised by the dutch.

Lets not forget about the others I mentioned, for instance ASML, you might not have walked around with your shiny iPhone.

Cheers (Pun intended)


norbinhouston said:
BTW, thanks for the compliment that I must be American. Since America invented all the things you needed to post your opinion. You're welcome.
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Arm is from the UK, ASML is Dutch, the fast SSD's in Apple's computers - Isreal, Internet Read here History of the Internet, Rockets - Germany, should I go on....

Not saying America didn't invent a lot, just point out that you're not the centre of the Universe.
 
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123 said:
And if I own an iPhone I should be able to do as I choose with it.
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You can, but Apple doesn’t have to help you. If you want to install other apps then figure out a way to do so.

“I own my iPhone, I should be able to run Android on it! And Apple should make that happen.” That is literally your argument.
 
justperry said:
I fear this was meant to be sarcastic, easy to pick just one out of the list and comment on it.
There's billions to be made in Music, Holland is quite a big player on the music market, for instance a lot of those "House" parties are organised by the dutch.

Lets not forget about the others I mentioned, for instance ASML, you might not have walked around with your shiny iPhone.

Cheers (Pun intended)




Arm is from the UK, ASML is Dutch, the fast SSD's in Apple's computers - Isreal, Internet Read here History of the Internet, Rockets - Germany, should I go on....

Not saying America didn't invent a lot, just point out that you're not the centre of the Universe.
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Like I said amazing.
 
Krizoitz said:
You can, but Apple doesn’t have to help you. If you want to install other apps then figure out a way to do so.
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Exactly. The same goes for Apple and the Netherlands: If you (Apple) want to screw your customers then figure out a way to do so without breaking the law.

Krizoitz said:
“I own my iPhone, I should be able to run Android on it! And Apple should make that happen.” That is literally your argument.
Click to expand...

First of all, learn what literally means. Then fix the twisted thinking.
 
justperry said:
Arm is from the UK, ASML is Dutch, the fast SSD's in Apple's computers - Isreal, Internet Read here History of the Internet, Rockets - Germany, should I go on....

Not saying America didn't invent a lot, just point out that you're not the centre of the Universe.
Click to expand...
The interesting thing about most inventions is they build upon ideas from elsewhere. Rockets, despite von Braun aiming for the moon but hitting London, were being made in the US prior to that and of course by the Chinese a long time before the 20th century.
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123 said:
Exactly. The same goes for Apple and the Netherlands: If you (Apple) want to screw your customers then figure out a way to do so without breaking the law.
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Apple has not (yet) been found guilty of breaking the law with regard to the claim.

The interesting part of this argument is extraterritoriality. How do you apply laws from one country to a business on the internet? Do you go for the lowest common denominator which means things that are legal in A but not B will not be allowed in A either? Does simply providing access to an item in A via the internet but not physically locating any servers in A still subject you to A's laws? What happens when A and B's laws are in conflict? Who wins?
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AndyMacAndMic said:
:confused:
What has your comment to do with anything? :confused:
Asking someone from Amsterdam if he grew up speaking German???
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My guess is a reference to WWII.
 
What I find interesting is that in no other industry would Apple’s business practices be tolerated.

Imagine only being able to watch TV programmes approved by Samsung on a Sumsung TV’s. That if NBC wanted to show it’s programmes it would be required to pay Samsung a mandatory, non-negotiable 30% kick back.

#JustSayin’
 
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