TechCrunch News 07月01日 01:51
Privacy-focused app maker Proton sues Apple over alleged anticompetive practices and fees
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隐私软件提供商Proton,旗下拥有Proton Mail、Proton Calendar等应用,近日对苹果公司提起诉讼,指控其在App Store中存在反竞争行为。Proton认为苹果在智能手机、应用分发和应用支付处理市场中拥有垄断地位,并将其App Store的费用比作互联网商业的关税,认为这些费用是“人为且武断的”。此次诉讼寻求App Store的改变和经济赔偿,Proton表示将把赔偿金捐赠给致力于民主和人权的组织。该诉讼加入了针对苹果公司的集体诉讼,并借鉴了Epic Games与苹果公司之间的长期法律纠纷。

📱Proton认为苹果在智能手机、应用分发和应用支付处理市场中拥有垄断地位,这限制了市场竞争,损害了消费者和开发者的利益。

💰Proton质疑苹果App Store的高额费用,认为这些费用并非真正用于维护App Store,并将其比作互联网商业的“关税”,具有“人为且武断”的性质。

🚫Proton指出苹果的政策限制了开发者与用户的直接沟通,例如禁止开发者在应用内告知用户网页端的折扣信息,这限制了用户的选择,并阻碍了开发者与客户建立更紧密的关系。

🗓️Proton的诉讼还涉及苹果对Proton Calendar等应用的限制,例如无法设置为默认日历应用,以及Proton Drive的后台处理受限,而iCloud不受此限制,这导致了用户体验的差异和不公平竞争。

🌍Proton强调苹果的垄断控制使得其成为世界各地独裁政权压制言论的工具,例如苹果必须根据俄罗斯和中国的法律下架应用,这间接影响了iOS开发者的运营,并对言论自由构成了威胁。

Privacy-focused software provider Proton, makers of Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, and other apps, has sued Apple, alleging anticompetitive practices in Apple’s App Store. In the new lawsuit, Proton says the iPhone maker holds a monopoly in the smartphone, app distribution, and app payment processing markets. It also compares Apple’s fees to tariffs on internet commerce, calling them “artificial and arbitrary.”

The suit is looking for changes to the App Store and monetary damages, which Proton says will be donated to organizations fighting for democracy and human rights.

The court papers, filed in the Northern District of California, are a part of a larger class-action suit against Apple. Proton says it’s joining other developers, including a group of Korean developers, who are also suing the tech giant.

The suit is among the latest to challenge Apple’s chokehold on the mobile app market.

It follows another yearslong battle between Epic Games and Apple, which Apple largely won as it was declared not to be a monopoly, setting a precedent for the new lawsuit to argue against. However, the judge in that case also ruled that Apple must let U.S. app developers link to their websites where they offer alternative payment mechanisms, without charging a commission on those sales. (Apple is still fighting this matter on appeal.)

Proton’s case takes a different angle. It cites the Epic case, saying that the evidence proved that Apple makes such a large profit on App Store fees that it questions whether the fees are really necessary to support the maintenance of the App Store, as Apple claims.

Proton, similarly, takes issue with Apple’s policies around payments. It points out how Apple barred developers from talking directly to their customers in the app, where they could inform them of discounts on the web. In addition, apps that don’t support Apple’s payment system are at risk of being removed from the App Store, the suit states.

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The arguments around payments delve into other nuances about how the system works, like how it’s harder to manage payments and subscriptions across devices because of Apple’s rules. For instance, the company explained in a blog post that customers who upgraded their accounts on the web can’t downgrade from their iOS device, which is a poor customer experience.

Proton also argues that its Calendar app can’t be set as the default, although iOS allows users to swap out the defaults for other apps like browsers, email, phone calls, messaging, and more. And it notes that its Proton Drive is restricted from background processing, whereas iCloud is not.

Notably, Proton’s case focuses on how Apple’s single point of distribution with the App Store makes it a tool used by dictatorships around the world to silence free speech. On this front, it points to all the apps Apple has to remove to comply with laws in markets like Russia and China. That decision trickles down to iOS developers, Proton says, like when its VPN app was threatened with removal because it claimed to “unblock censored websites.”

“Apple’s monopoly control of software distribution on iOS devices presents a myriad of problems for consumers, businesses, and society as a whole,” Proton’s post reads. “Anti-monopoly laws exist because the power gifted by monopoly status inevitably leads to abuse. In the case of oligarchic tech giants, these abuses have wide implications for society, and it’s vital to the future of the internet that they be addressed now.”

We reached out to Apple for comment and did not immediately hear back.

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Proton 苹果 App Store 垄断 反竞争
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