On Thursday, the smaller companies said they had formed the
Coalition for App Fairness, a nonprofit group that plans to push for changes in
the app stores and "protect the app economy".
For months,
complaints from tech companies against Apple’s and Google’s power have grown
louder. Spotify, the music streaming app, criticised Apple for the rules it
imposed in the App Store. A founder of the software company Basecamp attacked Apple’s
“highway robbery rates” on apps. And last month, Epic Games, maker of the
popular game Fortnite, sued Apple and Google, claiming they violated antitrust
rules.
Now these app
makers are uniting in an unusual show of opposition against Apple and Google
and the power they have over their app stores. On Thursday, the smaller
companies said they had formed the Coalition for App Fairness, a nonprofit
group that plans to push for changes in the app stores and “protect the app
economy”. The 13 initial members include Spotify, Basecamp, Epic and Match
Group, which has apps like Tinder and Hinge.
“They’ve
collectively decided, ‘We’re not alone in this, and maybe what we should do is
advocate on behalf of everybody,’” said Sarah Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the
group. She added that the new nonprofit would be “a voice for many.”
Scrutiny of the
largest tech companies has reached a new intensity. The Department of Justice
is expected to file an antitrust case against Google as soon as next week,
focused on the company’s dominance in internet search. In July, Congress
grilled the chief executives of Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook about their
practices in a high-profile antitrust hearing. And in Europe, regulators have
opened a formal antitrust investigation into Apple’s App Store tactics and are
preparing to bring antitrust charges against Amazon for abusing its dominance
in internet commerce.
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