Accused of 'unfair' practices, Apple faces App Store court battle in UK:
Depending how you look at it, Apple is gaining a fresh opportunity to explain why the charges it levies at the App Store are fair, or regulators are getting the chance to decide what the future shape of online business will be by defining what constitutes an acceptable profit margin in digital sales.
In either case, these decisions set precedents which can, presumably, be applied against other forms of business and retail. After all, if regulators define acceptable profit margins for one line of business, then they must adopt a consistent approach that can be applied across all industries. Right now, Apple seems to believe that for most transactions, the fair figure is zero or 15%, with those with the broadest shoulders paying more to support others.
What's happening is that the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal has decided to permit a Collective Proceedings Order (CPO, basically equivalent to a class action) to go to trial.
The action was brought in May 2021 by Dr. Rachael Kent, a lecturer in Digital Economy and Society Education at King's College, London. It argues that Apple is engaged in unfair business practices by forcing developers to use its own payment systems and taking up to 30% commission. If the case succeeds, approximately 19.6 million UK customers who have purchased apps from the App Store will get a share of up to £1.5 billion compensation. More information concerning the background to this case is available at the UK Apple App Store Claim site.
[...] To win, accusers must prove Apple's commission is excessive and its business practices unfair.
That's going to involve the usual roll call of Apple developer critics providing statements to the courts and will doubtless see conversations concerning Apple's costs against revenues and the extent to which App Store profits have grown.
For most humans, many of these arguments will be as interesting as a discussion of the geology of Rockall or the chance to buy NFTs in the (yawn) 'metaverse,' but for the tech industry what's really under scrutiny is cold, hard cash.
After all, for the courts to reach a decision as to what is a fair price for Apple to charge, they will also need to define what constitutes a fair price in more general terms. You can't set such rules arbitrarily, which means any global entity offering online stores for digital services could perhaps be impacted by the decision.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday July 09 2022, @06:45PM
At least half of those are likely story submissions for this site.