Figure: Figure worm
Source: 21tech
Author: Huang Wanyi
Editor: Wu Liyang
On February 7, the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority (ACM) was fined a third fine of 5 million euros by the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority (ACM) for the apple app store still failing to release the third-party payment system for the Dutch dating app as required.
In recent years, the Dutch antitrust agency has been continuously investigating whether Apple has abused its dominant market position, including the lawsuit of dating software developers, focusing on the monopoly of the app store in-app purchase payment system.
According to the survey results, ACM issued a directive requiring the Apple App Store to open third-party payments to all dating apps that bypass the in-app purchase payment channel by January 15, 2022, and that failure to rectify the deadline will be subject to a weekly fine of 5 million euros.
However, as of the past week of issuing the order on January 24, Apple did not meet ACM's requirements for rectification and was fined the first 5 million euros. As of now, Apple has been fined 5 million euros each for three weeks, totaling 15 million euros, for continued failure to rectify as required.
"Apple is afraid of third-party payments from its own commission income." Pan He, member of the Information and Communications Economic Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and executive dean of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, analyzed to reporters that Apple will take a cut through the Apple Mall, and there will be a commission for in-app purchases and purchases of applications, and the reason why the application cannot bypass the apple mall is Apple Pay, if there is a third-party payment channel, the application may bypass the Apple commission.
At the same time, antitrust regulation of app stores around the world is surging and mobile operating systems have shaken their pricing power over app stores. On February 4, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Open App Markets Act, a regulatory bill specifically for app stores that drew opposition from Apple and Google.
Apple obstructs third-party payments in disguise
In order to comply with the rectification requirements of the Dutch antitrust agency, Apple has made two responses on the developer's official website. The statement mentioned that in order to comply with the requirements of the Dutch antitrust regulator, Apple allows developers who publish dating software on the Dutch app store to choose to do any of the following: continue to use Apple's in-app purchase system, use a third-party payment system in the app, or an embedded link to guide users to the developer's website to complete the purchase.
However, according to the deployment of Apple's open third-party payment system, dating software application developers need to submit a special application to obtain the permission to pay third parties. Apple also said that any consumer service generated by these payment methods requires developers to contact customers to solve the problem.
This is exactly what the Dutch antitrust agency is not satisfied with. On January 17, ACM spokesperson Murco Mijnlieff said: "I received a notification from Apple that its app store policy has made corresponding adjustments to the dating software and will evaluate whether Apple's policy adjustments meet ACM's requirements." ”
Subsequently, on January 24, ACM said that it did not get enough information from Apple to assess whether the Apple App Store really complied with the regulations, and the most important point was that Apple only provided a channel for dating software developers to express their "interest" in using third-party payment systems, but still set up several barriers to the use of third-party payment systems, which did not meet ACM's requirements.
ACM further notes that Apple seems to be forcing app developers to choose between a payment system other than the app or a payment system other than the app, which is not allowed and app developers must be able to choose both options.
In addition, apple app store also announced plans to adjust the commission rate for dating software sales in the Netherlands to 27%, which is also in response to the penalties imposed by Dutch regulators, but only 3% lower than the original proportion.
When analyzing the main monopoly controversy that currently exists in Apple, Professor Pan and Lin said: "One is That Apple monopolizes the application download channel, and the user buys the Apple mobile phone but does not have the right to choose the application; the other is that Apple uses the terminal monopoly to commission the developers of the Apple Application Mall, the developers have no right to speak, and in the proportion of the commission, there is also a lack of competitors, and the market domination is achieved." ”
App store pricing power faces legislative challenges
The anti-monopoly controversy encountered by the mobile app store ecology has surged around the world. According to the incomplete statistics of 21 reporters, in recent years, the Regulatory Authorities of the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea, India and other countries or regions have launched anti-monopoly investigations against Apple or Google's App Store. Some countries have directly banned unfair competition in app stores at the legislative level.
For example, in September 2021, the amendment to South Korea's Telecommunications business law came into effect, which explicitly prohibited app stores from forcing developers to use in-app purchase systems. On Jan. 11 of this year, The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said it had received a compliance program from Apple, which said it would allow app developers third-party payment options and reduce commission rates.
Last week, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly passed the Open App Market Act 20:2, which will be submitted to a full-house vote. This is a bill specifically aimed at regulating the app store market, which regulates companies operating app stores with more than 50 million users in the United States, and aims to encourage competition in the app distribution market.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said Apple and Google's App Store would charge commission rates of up to 30 percent for in-app subscription services, which other tech companies and content creators say increases development costs and stifles the ability to launch new products or expand their businesses.
For the "Open Application Market Act" and other bills that specifically regulate mobile app stores to achieve regulatory effects, Professor Pan and Lin believe that the main purpose is to break the monopoly of Apple or Google's application channels, the giants should allow all applications to enter the mall fairly and reach users, and secondly, to break the pricing power of Apple and Google in terms of application commissions, bypass Apple Google Pay through third-party payment entry, and give consumers and developers more choices.
On January 10, Apple disclosed revenue data for its services business. Since launching the Apple App Store in 2008, Apple has paid $200 billion to app developers by the end of 2020, the data shows. At present, apple and Google have expressed opposition to the Open App Market Act, saying that the app store needs to be controlled to ensure the privacy of users.
Editor: Lu Taoran