after Epic tried to offer a separate payment system. Apple counters that Epic is just trying to avoid paying its commission rate of up to 30% and free ride on the tech giant’s inventions.
Gatekeepers are as old as the economy itself. Toll bridges qualify, as do railways and even nationwide supermarket chains such as Walmart. Nor are they necessarily bad. Without Apple’s largely effective policing of its platform, the app business would be much smaller: users would have to worry much more about scams and system crashes. And allowing rival app stores, which Epic wants, may increase competition, but risks causing security problems.
In its defence, Apple argues that it is well within its rights: it built the app store and, crucially, is not a monopoly. If developers do not like the rules, they can go to Android’s Play Store or create an app that runs in a browser. Not so, counter the firm’s critics. Any developer that wants to make good money needs to be in the App Store. As for consumers, switching from an iPhone to an Android device is in most cases tricky.
It’s about money. Everything is... barf