The Coalition For App Fairness - which includes music services Spotify, Deezer and Qobuz as members - last week welcomed the news that the US Department Of Justice is suing Apple over alleged anticompetitive conduct in the smartphone market.
Earlier in the week, Spotify also filed an amicus brief in relation to the Epic v Apple legal battle, criticising how Apple plans to comply with an injunction forcing a change to the tech giant's rules over in-app payments on iOS devices.
"The Department Of Justice is taking a strong stand against Apple’s stranglehold over the mobile app ecosystem, which stifles competition and hurts American consumers and developers alike", declared Rick VanMeter, Executive Director for The Coalition For App Fairness.
"The DoJ complaint details Apple’s long history of illegal conduct – abusing their App Store guidelines and developer agreements to increase prices, extract exorbitant fees, degrade user experiences and choke off competition".
Announcing its litigation on Thursday, the DoJ said that its lawsuit "alleges that Apple illegally maintains a monopoly over smartphones by selectively imposing contractual restrictions on, and withholding critical access points from, developers".
US Attorney General Merrick B Garland added, “We allege that Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits, but by violating federal antitrust law. If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly".
The DoJ's legal action includes numerous specific complaints about Apple's conduct in the smartphone market. For app developers like Spotify, a key grievance has been Apple's rules regarding in-app payments.
Many app developers are forced to take in-app payments via Apple's own commission-charging transactions platform. They are also banned from clearly sign-posting alternative payment options outside of the app via what is often called the anti-steering provision.
Apple's App Store rules have been subject to litigation, lobbying and regulator intervention in multiple countries.
In Europe, Apple has been forced to make some changes to its rules, especially in relation to the anti-steering provision, as a result of a European Union competition investigation instigated by a complaint from Spotify, and the new EU Digital Markets Act. Although app developers have been critical of how Apple has chosen to comply with its new obligations in the EU.
Meanwhile, in the US, Fortnite maker Epic Games sued Apple in the California courts. Its claims that Apple's App Store rules violate US competition law were unsuccessful, however the judge hearing the case did conclude that the anti-steering provision violated California law.
As a result Apple has said app developers in the US can now sign-post alternative payment options, but it still plans to charge a commission on any purchases that result from a link in an app. Earlier this month Epic went back to the court in California urging the judge to intervene, insisting that Apple's proposal was a "blatant violation" of her injunction on the anti-steering provision.
Last week Spotify filed an amicus brief in support of Epic stating, “Apple’s conduct shows that it has no intention of complying with this court’s directive". Four other app developers - Meta, Microsoft, X and Match Group - also made a joint filing stating, “the Apple plan comports with neither the letter nor the spirit of this court’s mandate".
Despite all the issues with the way Apple has sought to comply with new laws - and orders from the courts and regulators - app developers generally feel that things are slowly moving in their favour, and will obviously be watching the DoJ's legal action against the tech giant very closely.
That said, the app developers would much prefer it if things were moving more rapidly in their favour, and - needless to say - Apple will instigate a significant fight back in the DoJ case, which will likely drag on for years. Last week an Apple spokesperson said that the US government's lawsuit was “wrong on the facts and the law”, and that the company would “will vigorously defend against it".
To that end, The Coalition For App Fairness continues to call on lawmakers in Washington to pass new laws to regulate Apple's app rules, having previously backed the Open App Markets Act.
VanMeter's statement concluded, "As this case unfolds in the coming years more must be done now to end the anticompetitive practices of all mobile app gatekeepers. It remains imperative that Congress pass bipartisan legislation, like the Open App Markets Act, to create a free and open mobile app marketplace".