Apple defends itself against claims its App Store is an abusive monopoly

Apple creates a 'Principles and Practices' web page to justify its 30 per cent App Store commission and business practices

Apple has a created a new webpage, 'App Store: Principles and Practices', in a bid to defend itself against claims that it is operating an abusive monopoly.

The move follows-on from the US Supreme Court's recent decision that opened the door to antitrust lawsuits against the Cupertino, California-based technology company over its alleged anti-competition practices of its App Store.

Apple's new webpage highlights its principles and practices, while also offering justifications for the 30 per cent commission that the company charges from paid apps on App Store.

"It's our store. And we take responsibility for it," Apple states on its webpage, further explaining the twin goals for the app platform and describing the protections put in place on the platform.

Apple says that it reviews close to 100,000 apps each week using a combination of automated systems and human experts. Of all the apps that are received for review, 60 per cent are approved while 40 are rejected over privacy concerns, minor bugs, or other factors. Developers also get a chance to revise their app or appeal against the decision.

The company stresses that the App Store platform offers more than just paid apps to users. There are eight categories of apps, of which four generate no revenue for the company. Some 84 per cent of apps in the store are free to download and use, it points out.

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Apple also highlights the huge investment it makes - from compilers and SDKs to the Apple Developer Academy and WWDC scholarships - to enable developers create and distribute their apps.

The charm offensive has been launched after Apple became the subject of escalating criticism over its App Store practices.

In March, Spotify filed a complaint with European Union competition authorities, accusing Apple of favouring tilting the field in its own favour where its services compete against third parties.

Spotify claimed that any developer or company that wishes to distribute an app that competes with an Apple version has to pay Apple a 30 per cent cut of their app's subscription or other revenues.

In this case, Spotify competes against Apple Music in the streaming music market, and Spotify is obliged to pay a 30 per cent commission to Apple for all subscriptions for Spotify running on Apple's iOS walled garden operating system.

The claims prompted an investigation by the EU.

Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court allowed a group of iPhone users to bring an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over its App Store practices.

Responding to the Supreme Court's decision, Apple said that "developers set the price they want to charge for their app" and added that it has no role in that.

Apple was seeking this case to be dismissed in the court. It argued that consumers buy their apps from the developers, who set the prices for their apps themselves.

"Apple's line-drawing does not make a lot of sense, other than as a way to gerrymander Apple out of this and similar lawsuits," Justice Kavanaugh said in his opinion.

"If a retailer has engaged in unlawful monopolistic conduct that has caused consumers to pay higher-than-competitive prices, it does not matter how the retailer structured its relationship with an upstream manufacturer or supplier," stated the court.

App Store commissions are currently under pressure, starting on the PC where the Epic Games Store's commission structure drastically undercuts the popular Steam gaming portal, while Microsoft has also slashed non-games commission for apps sold in the online Microsoft Store.

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