The economic model of the App Store is definitely crumbling all over the world. Already forced by the European Union to open its ecosystem of iOS applications, the iPhone manufacturer has just been fined 1 million euros by the Paris Commercial Court.
“Legal and economic insecurity”
The Ministry of Economy and Finance as well as the DGCCRF accused the group “to impose tariffs” to companies who wanted to sell their apps on its store and to “modify unilaterally” the contracts at will. Of all the grievances addressed to Apple, the court upheld the “significant imbalance” and “significant legal and economic insecurity“born from Apple’s control over its App Store policies and the inability of a development team to challenge an app’s suspension.
The exclusivity of the payment system as well as the 30% commission charged by Apple have not been questioned by the consular court, the latter preferring to leave these concerns to the judgments of Brussels which has just implemented the Digital Markets Act , aimed precisely at regulating any abuse of a dominant position. The court judged in particular the amount of 30% “obviously not excessive“since this rate”is found very frequently in commerce, whether online or physical“.
The screw is tightening around Apple and Google
As a comment, Apple explained “review this decision carefully and continue our efforts to support developers and provide a safe user experienceIt should be noted that the Google Play Store had also been targeted by the DGCCRF and Bercy and had been fined two million euros last March.
If the amount of the fine is rather meager compared to what Apple earns (almost 400 billion in turnover in 2021), this judgment proves that the political dynamic around the web giants is changing. Once seen as great providers of jobs and opportunities in the mobile market, Apple and Google are now under close scrutiny because of the significant control they exercise over the sector. French legislation, which will soon be reinforced by the DSA and the DMA, has just taken a little head start on this.