US Congressman and House antitrust chair David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, is making a strong statement against Apple's App Store fees. Rep. Cicilline describes Apple's 30% fees on all sales in the App Store as "highway robbery," even going so far as to say that Apple is "bullying" developers to pay the fees or denying them access.
Rep. Cicilline made these comments during an interview on a recent episode of The Vergecast podcast. The conversation came up during a discussion regarding Apple rejecting an App for allowing users to register outside of the App Store, thus denying Apple 30% of the fee. Rep Cicilline felt compelled to say that, "because of the market power that Apple has, it is charging exorbitant rents -- highway robbery, basically."
But Rep. Cicilline doesn't stop there, he also describes the consequences of Apple's 30% fees on all purchases through the App Store. "It's crushing small developers who simply can't survive with those kinds of payments," Rep. Cicilline says, citing it as unacceptable results from Apple's fees. He later goes on to describe how he's heard from individuals who fear retaliation for taking issue with Apple's fees.
Rep. Cicilline says that the allegations of potential retaliation will be investigated, and the US Congress is currently executing a larger investigation into digital marketplaces, with Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook's CEOs each being asked to testify. Apple's CEO Tim Cook has notably not agreed to testify.
The sentiment echoes the ongoing discourse regarding PC storefronts, as Epic Games and many game developers call Steam's 30% storefront fees egregious. Epic's own storefront takes just 12% for fees, but Steam remains incredibly popular and hasn't adjusted its fees for most games or developers.
Source: The Verge