"Political delay tactic" with the App Store: Apple criticizes EU Commission
After a first alternative app marketplace shut down, Apple fears EU consequences. According to Apple, the EU has not approved changes.
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch / heise medien)
Apple fears facing renewed problems with the EU Commission due to the closure of Setapp's app store on the iPhone. The company has already made proposals for implementing the changes demanded by the Union but has not been allowed to implement them, according to a statement obtained by the financial news agency Bloomberg. According to its own statements, Apple is facing a "political delay tactic" intended to impose fines on the company.
Criticism of Non-Implementation
In mid-January, it became known that the Ukrainian provider MacPaw had decided to close its alternative app marketplace (Alternative App Marketplace, AAM), which had opened in 2024, by February 16. The reason given was the "constantly evolving and complex business terms that do not fit Setapp's current business model." However, Apple claims to have long since adapted these, at least in proposals to the EU Commission. Previously, 50 euro cents per install were due – starting from one million installations.
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Apple wanted to reduce this to a five percent revenue share, which was already proposed last year. However, according to its own statements, the iPhone maker is waiting for the EU Commission to allow the implementation at all. "The European Commission has refused us to implement exactly the changes they themselves demanded," the company stated in the statement to Bloomberg from last week. "In October, we submitted a formal compliance plan, to which [the Commission] has still not responded." Apple sees this as "misleading the public." Furthermore, the EU Commission is constantly changing the target objectives "to unfairly disadvantage an American company with complex investigations and high fines." Apple's emphasis on being an "American company" seems to be a signal to the US government.
Apple: Alternative App Stores Unpopular
Apple further stated that there is no demand for AAMs – although, according to many critics, the conditions are simply unattractive. In Apple's view, Setapp is not ceasing its business because of Apple.
The EU Commission plans to react to the end of the Setapp store. This is to be explicitly linked to Apple's inaction, according to a statement that is still internal. "Apple has not rolled out changes to address central problems with its business terms, including complexity." This would mean the EU Commission is following the wording of MacPaw itself.
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