The eyes of antitrust on the Google and Apple App stores

Trouble with antitrust in the United States for Google. The Mountain View giant is facing a cause headed by California and which sees nearly 40 states participating, including New York, Colorado, Utah and Massachussets. In particular, the practices in force on the Google Play Store to clip the wings of the competition, in particular with regard to payments for in-app purchases. According to the plaintiffs, Google would have made it obligatory to use its Billing payment system for Android developers for app content sales, earning billions of dollars from commissions that, being the only player on the market, was able to fix at will without real competition. Furthermore, Google would have abused its dominant position to favor its Play Store, going so far as to offer a payment to Samsung in exchange for abandoning its relations with developers, a clear deterrent to the creation of an alternative App Store to Google Play. Google’s response was a post on his blog, in which they say they are amazed to be the recipients of such a cause, given that Android allows much more freedom for both users and developers than “other mobile operating systems”. The clear reference is to Apple, which recently faced very similar accusations from Epic Games. The company, creator of the hugely popular video game Fortnite, has tried to bypass Apple’s proprietary system for in-app payments that retains 30% of commissions. Apple then removed Fortnite from the app store, which led to a legal dispute that is still unresolved. And that, after months, goes on with mixed fortunes in several states, because Epic Games has filed a lawsuit against Apple not only in the US, but also in other areas of the world. It found fertile ground in Australia, where, after a first stop, Epic Games was recognized on appeal the right to act legally.The Fortnite issue has also affected Google: Epic Games has in fact bypassed the commissions also on payments through Google Play. and the app has been removed from the store but, as Google itself explains in its post in response to the recent antitrust lawsuit, “Epic Games, benefited from the opening of Android by distributing the Fortnite app outside of Google Play”, which instead on Apple it is not possible to do. The dominant position of the major players in the field of app distribution has been in the crosshairs for some time, and while Android is a much more open system than iOS, many are arguing the need for more competition. These include the Coalition for App Fairness, an industry non-profit organization that includes Spotify, Tile and Match Group among its members. Regarding the lawsuit against Google, they commented: “The App Stores have had the opportunity to abuse their market position for too long. Their uncompetitive policies stifle innovation, inhibit consumer freedom, inflate costs and limit transparent communication between developers and their customers ”.