Apple’s opposition to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation took a turn back in September when the company started arguing that the law should be repealed. It also suggested that more new features would be delayed for EU customers, and perhaps even new hardware.
The company is now claiming a new study proves that the DMA fails to live up to one of its core promises: reducing app prices …
A quick recap on Apple and the DMA
Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation designated a number of tech companies as “gatekeepers” – meaning that they are powerful enough to use their market dominance to block competition.
Apple was designated a gatekeeper because it hit a minimum user threshold, with one concern its monopoly over the sale of iPhone apps. It was told that it must allow people to buy and sell iPhone apps outside of its own App Store. The company complied, and there are now several alternative app stores for iPhone apps. Apple also offered alternative terms for EU developers who stuck with the App Store that could also result in slightly lower commissions.
Apple denies that app prices have fallen
The EU argued that having competing app stores would result in lower commissions and therefore lower app prices for consumers. However, an Apple-funded study carried out by The Analysis Group says it checked for reductions in app prices after commissions were reduced and says it can find very little evidence of this.
The study looked at the impact of three developments, each of which reduced the commissions paid by app developers.
First, the introduction of third-party app stores with lower commissions. Second, the alternative terms Apple offered to EU developers that cut its commission from 30% to 17% for large developers, and from 15% to 10% for small businesses. Third, the earlier introduction of the Small Business Program, which halved commissions for smaller developers.
If the EU was right, Apple says it would expect to see app price reductions in line with the savings enjoyed by developers in each of the three cases. However, it says the study doesn’t support this.
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