Judging by the name, you will probably get a good idea, that this has something to do with apps and apple. It’s certainly like that. Coalition for App Fairness is a nonprofit organization, which has one purpose, and that is to fight against Apple’s iOS policies. Right now there are 13 companies who have joined the Coalition for App Fairness. Basecamp, Blix, Blockchain, Deezer, Epic, Prepear, News Media Europe, match group, ProtonMail, SkyDemon, tile, Epic Games, and most Importantly Spotify who were the very first company to stand against Apple’s iOS policies. Anybody who has an App on the iOS Store, and wants to speak against Apple, they are more than welcomed to join the Coalition for App Fairness. On the website, there are three main points highlighted that Coalition thinks aren’t fair. The first point says that Apple favors itself through the control of the iOS operating system. In other words, Apple has its own apps that are priced significantly lower than its competitor. Apple can lower these prices because they do not have to pay the 30% App Tax for their own Apps. The second point reads that a 30% tax on every transaction is injustice. According to the Coalition for App Fairness, “no other transaction fee in any industry comes close”. It also says that a 30% tax “cuts deeply into consumer purchasing power and developer revenue.” The last and most important point that Coalition has highlighted, is App Store limits consumer freedom. If an iPhone user wants to play a specific game. The game must be available on App Store, else it cannot be downloaded on the iOS System. The Coalition for App Fairness notes that this is a monopoly. In addition, It also says that Apple does not allow companies to tell its users that other less expensive options are available. In case they do not follow the rules, they get banned from the App Store. The coalition for app fairness has listed 10 points, that they demand Apple fix. According to the Coalition for App Fairness. Apple makes roughly $15,000,000,000+ per annual from app taxes alone. Apple’s App Store policies recently came into the spotlight when Fortnite was removed from the App Store. Epic Games silently rolled an update that allowed its players to buy Fortnite V-Bucks through an external source, bypassing the 30% Apple Tax. The game was banned in few hours, and Apple immediately filed a lawsuit against both Apple and Google. Epic Games also started the #FreeFortnite movement and recreated the Iconic 1984 Macintosh commercial. A lawsuit is still on-going between Apple, Google, and Epic Games.
