Apple is being sued by developers who say that the App Store is a monopoly

Two developers said that Apple had been maintaining a monopoly on the sale and distribution of iOS apps for years and was suing the technology giant in a US federal court to put an end to its "monopolization." this market ". A lawsuit is about class action status, so it could potentially represent anyone who has ever sold an iOS app in the United States.

There is no doubt that Apple has almost complete control over the distribution of iOS applications. With few exceptions, all apps must go through the App Store and all must comply with Apple's rules to access Apple's hardware platforms. The question is whether Apple now this control is an illegal monopoly.

The plaintiffs – the developers of a baby naming app and a coaching app for basketball – claim that Apple "stifles innovation," depresses them. purchases made with and within iOS applications and limits overall development by applying such strict rules. They dispute the obligation of developers to pay $ 99 a year, give Apple a 30% reduction in most transactions, which affects its profitability, and forces prices to end at $ 0.99.

But most importantly, they dispute the fact that the one and only place to distribute iOS apps is via the Apple App Store. If Apple rejects an application, they have nowhere to go. If their app is not detected in the App Store, no other store can expect to benefit from a promotion. If Apple did not apply this limitation, the lawsuit stated that "it would increase production and distribution transactions" because more buyers would find and buy applications.

According to the lawsuit, the only way to remedy this situation is to allow other apps stores. This would improve the developer market and spur Apple to innovate on its own store to stay ahead.

Apple, as well as other tech giants, have more and more often to complain about the power that they now hold. Apple stayed out of the discussion a little more than others, but Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for the dissolution of the company and a Supreme Court decision last month allowed for Individual consumers to sue Apple in court for the same monopoly deprivation on the App Store. .

In one way or another, Apple will face these problems in the near future, and this could well be a long legal battle. Already, Apple has put a website online to try to get the message that it is in favor of competition by simply allowing third-party applications in competition with his own. We contacted Apple for a comment.