Proton, a privacy-centric software provider that makes Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive and other apps, sued Apple for alleging anti-competitive practices on Apple's App Store. In the new lawsuit, iPhone makers hold monopolies in the smartphone, app distribution and app payment processing market, Proton said. They also compare Apple's fees with Internet commerce tariffs and call them “artificial and arbitrary.”
The lawsuit is looking for changes to the app store and financial damages. This says Proton will donate to organizations that are fighting for democracy and human rights.
Court documents filed in the Northern District of California are part of a larger class action lawsuit against Apple. Proton says he's joining other developers, including a group of Korean developers, to suing the high-tech giant.
This suit is one of the latest challenges to Apple's chokehold in the mobile app market.
It follows a few more years of battle between the epic game and Apple. It was declared not an exclusive, so Apple mostly won, setting a precedent for new lawsuits to refute. However, the judge ruled that Apple should allow app developers to link to their websites and provide alternative payment mechanisms without charging fees for selling them. (Apple is still fighting this issue with appeals.)
The proton case takes a different angle. Apple has proven that Apple is making a huge profit with its App Store fees, and has proven evidence that, as Apple claims, questions whether the fees are really needed to support the maintenance of the App Store.
Similarly, Proton has problems with Apple's policy regarding payments. It points to how Apple has banned how it could talk directly to app customers and let them know about discounts on the web. Additionally, apps that do not support Apple's payment system are at risk of being removed from the App Store, Suit said.
The payment discussion delves into other nuances about how the system works, making it difficult to manage payments and subscriptions between devices due to Apple's rules. For example, the company explained in a blog post that customers who upgrade their accounts on the web cannot downgrade from iOS devices. This is a poor customer experience.
Proton also claims that it cannot set the calendar app as default, but on iOS users can exchange defaults for other apps such as browsers, email, phone, messaging, etc. Also note that iCloud does not, whereas its proton drive is restricted from background processing.
In particular, the Proton case focuses on how Apple's single delivery point using Apple's App Store will become the tool used by dictatorships around the world to silence free speech. On this front, it points to all apps that Apple needs to remove in order to comply with market laws such as Russia and China. That decision, like when it drips down on iOS developers, was threatened with deletion because the VPN app claimed it would “unblock censored websites.”
“Apple's monopoly control of software distribution on iOS devices presents countless issues for consumers, businesses and society at large,” reads Proton's post. “There are anti-mass laws, as the power given by an exclusive position inevitably leads to abuse. For the OLI-worrisome tech giants, these abuses have a huge impact on society and are essential for the future of the internet that is being addressed now.”
We contacted Apple for a comment but did not respond immediately.