The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is investigating competition in the digital market, focusing on Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple as part of its antitrust law investigation. In response, Microsoft was excluded from the investigation. The company’s president, Brad Smith, said he criticized some of the App Store as being anti-competitive for not pointing to Apple and Google.
He noted that some app stores set their own rules and have high fees. He said that there is only one way to access these platforms, and that they force them to go through their own gateways. In some cases, they set a higher fee to pay 30% of the revenue to the manager.
He also argued that the time is coming for a more focused discussion in the United States or the EU whether the essential rules of the App Store, prices, fees, and everything made are really justified under antitrust laws.
Microsoft also provides apps through the App Store and Google Play, and is one of the software developers that pay fees to Apple and Google. For example, if a user purchases a Microsoft 365 subscription through the App Store, they have to pay a 15-30% commission to Apple.
While the company’s name isn’t specific, Smith is criticizing some app stores for creating much higher competition and barriers to access than Microsoft’s Windows, which was convicted of antitrust violations 20 years ago. For reference, the lawsuit referred to here is filed by the US Department of Justice for the fact that Microsoft uses the operating system monopoly as an anti-competitive measure. In 2000, the Federal District Court ruled against Microsoft, and at the time, an order was issued to divide the operating system and application programs divisions. However, the ruling was repatriated by the Federal High Court, and reconciliation was established in February 2002.
Smith noted that Windows allows developers to distribute apps to consumers through multiple stores or directly. Contrary to other App Store practices, it suggested that Microsoft had learned to behave without breaking antitrust laws after a long court battle.
House antitrust subcommittee chair David Cicilline also criticized in an interview that the fees charged by Apple entangle small developers. He pointed out that the email app Hey, tried to avoid the fee by letting the website pay for the subscription, not the app, but it would remove the app if it doesn’t follow Apple’s policy. He said Apple is charging huge fees for its power, which is like a highway robbery and denies access to the market if you don’t pay 30%. The problem is a small developer who can’t survive with this payment, he stressed that this shouldn’t happen for real competition in this market. Related information can be found here .