Apple at the center of $1 billion lawsuit as UK app developers join forces against ‘outrageous’ charges -TGN

Apple is being sued for £1bn (£785m) by app developers in the UK over App Store charges.

Professor Sean Ennis of the University of East Anglia Center for Competition Policy is filing the class action lawsuit on behalf of 1,566 app makers over the tech giant’s “outrageous” charges.

Some app makers continue to pay 15% to 30% Apple commissioned when using its in-app payment system — a procedure that has been criticized by antitrust regulators in several countries.

Professor Ennis said: “Apple’s costs to app developers are outrageous, and only possible because of its monopoly on app distribution on iPhones and iPads.

“The charges are unfair in themselves and constitute unfair prices. They harm app developers and app buyers as well.”

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Apple previously said that 85% of App Store developers pay no commission and that it helps European developers access markets and customers in 175 countries around the world through the App Store.

Apple’s services business, which includes Apple Pay, Apple Arcade and the App Store, is growing at around $80bn (£62bn) a year in revenue.

In November, the UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Apple’s dominance and from Google mobile browsers in the cloud market.