The Indian digital start-up ecosystem has welcomed Apple’s deleting a clause that prevented developers from contacting users outside of in-app purchases.
On Saturday, Apple said it deleted clause 3.1.3 that said: “Developers cannot use information obtained within the app to target individual users outside of the app to use purchasing methods other than in-app purchase (such as sending an individual user an email about other purchasing methods, after that, individual signs up for an account within the app).”
The All India Digital Foundation (ADIF), a think tank for digital start-ups in India, called it an encouraging move, which it said was being used by Apple to maintain a stronghold on the developers in order to make them cough up hefty commissions. “This comes as a major victory for the developer and start-up community who have been vocal against the restrictive and anti-competitive practices of the two big firms through AppStore/PlayStore policies,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, executive director, ADIF.
“Having said that, practices that restrict app developers with their product and user experience choices still persist. For instance, Apple has still not relented on allowing alternative payments systems to be embedded directly in its apps. It is crucial now to ensure that the efforts towards making the app economy a fair marketplace are sustained,” he said.
Google, which owns a majority of the operating system market in India with its Android OS, has also been at the receiving end of developers’ ire. Its commissions have been a contentious issue for a long time, and given Apple’s deletion of the clause, ADIF feels more work needs to be done by Google to address developer concerns.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
