A developer incensed by Apple’s new EU App Store rules says “many” app developers are “angry and upset” with the company, likening Apple to The Godfather with its application of measures designed to comply with the Digital Markets Act.
Colton Adamski told the BBC this week that while Apple “says it's opening up… it still has a tight fist around iPhones.” The report says the 22-year-old “former hacker and businessman” is hoping to launch one of the very first alternative app marketplaces on iPhone in the EU, alongside the likes of Mobivention, a B2B-focused store for businesses, and MacPaw’s Setapp.
Interestingly, the BBC reports that Adamski “has been running an unofficial iPhone app store for more than six years” which he describes as a “grey business.” As you might expect, Adamski “jumped at the chance” to create a legitimate store for customers in the EU when it became clear the new Digital Markets Act would pave the way for third-party app stores on the iPhone, a move confirmed by Apple earlier this year.
Too many hurdles? Developers react to App Store changes
According to the report, “Colton's excitement diminished though when he and his team started reading Apple's terms and conditions.” Adamski “compares Apple's rules to a gangster from The Godfather or Sopranos. Yes, you can open your shop on their turf, but you have to do exactly as they say or they will shut you down.”
Specifically, the report notes several hurdles to creating a new alternative app marketplace. Adamski highlighted Apple’s requirement that developers “Provide Apple a stand-by letter of credit in the amount of €1,000,000 from a financial institution that’s at least A-rated or equivalent by S&P, Fitch, or Moody’s, and maintain that standby letter of credit as long as your alternative app marketplace is in operation.” This requirement has recently been waived for developers who are “a member of good standing in the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more, and have an app that had more than one million first annual installs on iOS in the EU in the prior calendar year.”
Adamski also highlighted Apple’s much more controversial Core Technology Fee, which says developers “will need to pay €0.50 for each first annual install of their marketplace app,” after one million downloads. As per the report, Adamski “feels this is like a so-called protection fee paid to a mob under the guise of making sure a shop owner's business is safe,” Adamski told the BBC “Many app developers I know are angry and upset. How on earth can they explain this Core Technology Fee? We don't see Android pulling that nonsense.”
Several big-name players, most notably Spotify, have already called out Apple for perceived malicious compliance over the DMA. They claim that Apple is making it as painful as possible for developers to take their business away from the App Store. A letter drawn up by Spotify and Epic and signed by 34 companies and associations says Apple’s new structure “seems designed to maintain and even amplify Apple’s exploitation of its dominance over app developers."
Unlike The Godfather, however, it seems as though Adamski believes that with its alternative app marketplace policy, Apple has made them an offer they must refuse because the bar for compliance has been set so high. Despite this, the report says Adamski “is determined to make his app store work,” but that “It's proving to be really tough but me and my team are working hard because this is literally the future of iPhones.”
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