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A new class action lawsuit in the UK from over 1,500 developers calls Apple’s App Store fee excessive and a result of the company’s app distribution monopoly.
The latest attack on App Store fees comes from a group of 1,566 app developer in the UK. According to a report from Reuters, the group has started a class action lawsuit against Apple on the basis that the fee is excessive and a result of Apple’s monopoly on its app distribution platform.
“Apple’s charges to app developers are excessive, and only possible due to its monopoly on the distribution of apps onto iPhones and iPads,” Sean Ennis, a professor at the Centre for Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia and a former economist at the OECD, said in a statement. “The charges are unfair in their own right, and constitute abusive pricing. They harm app developers and also app buyers.”
Ennis is bringing the class action lawsuit forward to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. He is being advised by the law firm Geradin Partners.
Apple discussed its 30% fee during the Epic Games trial. It has also said previously that 85% of developers on the App Store do not pay a commission and that it helps European developers access markets and customers in 175 countries through the App Store.
