Apple is one of the largest tech companies in the world, as well as the first having surpassed $2 trillion in market capitalization.
That position high up makes Apple control pretty much of the tech ecosystem. In its case, the company has the utmost power to govern its platform.
While Apple has long market its approach as prioritizing users' privacy and security among others, by making its walled-garden a very strict one, many developers aren't happy with that decision.
Following the epic battle between Fortnite developer Epic Games and Apple, a number of companies that include Basecamp, Blix, Blockchain.com, Deezer, Epic Games, the European Publishers Council, Match Group, News Media Europe, Prepear, Protonmail, SkyDemon, Spotify, and Tile, have formed an alliance to pressure Apple, Google and others to change their app store rules.
In a coalition they call 'The Coalition for App Fairness', it states that “Apple taxes consumers and crushes innovation,” and that it will advocate “freedom of choice and fair competition across the app ecosystem.”
It also has plans to “create a level playing field for app businesses and give people freedom of choice on their devices,” and push for new regulations governing how app stores can be run.
Many of the members, including Epic, Spotify and Tile have in the past filed action against Apple or Google.
For example, Spotify has filed a complaint in the European court over high fees, and regarding Apple's rules that favor its own products. Tile on the other hand, accused Apple of reducing its usability on iOS in favor of its own app, FindMy.
As for Epic Games, the company even went to the more extreme by trying to bypass the App Store altogether and found itself terminated from the store, developer tools and all.
On its website, the coalition wrote that:
While most of the founding members have individually fought or are already fighting Apple over its App Store policies, the Coalition for App Fairness is more than just that. The coalition aims to create a more coordinated effort for developers to formally protest Apple’s rules.
With 'The Coalition for App Fairness', members can pool their resources together, in order to lobby as group. This can give advantages to smaller developers who could never have their voices heard by Apple or Google, if they go alone.
The coalition is open to “companies of any size, in any industry who are committed to protecting consumer choice, fostering competition and creating a level playing field for all app and game developers locally,” according to the coalition in its web page.
As for their first move, the group has proposed a code of conduct it wants Apple and other store owners to adopt. With it, members request that they should not be forced to pay “unfair, unreasonable or discriminatory fees” and shouldn’t be forced to use an exclusive app store, “including payment obligations.”
In general, the coalition wants to tackle three following issues:
- Carefully crafted anti-competitive policies.
- The 30% “App Tax”.
- No consumer freedom.
They also demand access to the platform’s technical details.