After Epic, Spotify and Mozilla have also spoken out against the new rules that Apple has drawn up for the use of the App Store. The former speaks of ‘extortion’, and Mozilla says it is ‘extremely disappointed’ in Apple.
The new plan that Apple presented on Thursday for the App Store on iOS to comply with the European Digital Markets Act is a ‘complete sham’, writes Spotify in a blog post. Under the new policy, developers can choose between the existing rules or a set of new rules. However, Spotify states that these new rules are so unattractive that developers are forced to stick with the status quo.
For example, as part of the changed rules, Apple will receive 50 cents per year per app installation, if the app in question has been downloaded more than a million times. Spotify calls this ‘extortion’, and states that developers are punished if they grow, or if their app suddenly gets a popularity boost. Combined with the 17 percent commission that developers still have to pay to Apple, even if they offer alternative payment methods, Spotify says this means that many developers will have to pay Apple as much or more under the new rules.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sets on X that this policy creates an ‘untenable situation’. Spotify’s iOS app has been downloaded by around a hundred million European users, according to Ek, which would raise costs so high that the company can no longer be profitable. The CEO therefore says he has ‘no choice’ but to maintain the status quo. Spotify announced this week that it wants to allow European users to take out subscriptions via the iOS app again from March, but the question is whether this will continue if the music streaming service decides not to accept the new rules.
Mozilla lets in a response to The Verge are also ‘extremely disappointed’ in the new rules, but cite a different reason. As part of the Digital Market Act, Apple must allow alternative browser engines in iOS, meaning third-party browsers are no longer required to use WebKit. However, this only applies in the EU; In other parts of the world, Apple may still require iPhone browsers to offer WebKit support. This means that Mozilla will have to support two different iOS versions of Firefox due to these new rules. The company says this makes it “as painful as possible” for Apple to provide competitive alternatives to Safari.
The Coalition of App Fairness, a partnership between several major app manufacturers, including Spotify, Tinder parent company Match Group and Proton, spoke up previously discussed the policy changes. The joint statement says the new plan is “unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory,” giving developers a choice between two “anti-competitive and illegal options.” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called the changes “hot garbage” on Thursday.