iOS developers collectively sued Apple: charging $99 per year and taking 30%

On Friday local time in the United States, iOS developers filed a class action lawsuit against Apple. The developers believed that Apple abused its monopoly power, forcibly set the lowest price, required App developers to pay $99 per year, and must give 30% of sales revenue to Apple.

The developers filed a lawsuit with the Northern California District Court, arguing that Apple used anti-competitive means to form a monopoly in the iOS App market. Apple prohibits third parties from distributing digital content, imposes mandatory requirements on developers when setting prices, and also "taxes" developers.

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Plaintiff Barry Sermons filed the lawsuit on behalf of App developers. He believes that due to Apple's evil deeds, the fees, costs, and pricing of Apps and products within App programs have continued to rise, and developers have no choice but to obey Apple's orders. Simmons also believes that Apple's actions have weakened the competitiveness of competitors, affected their motivation to innovate, and ultimately harmed competition.

Developers also complained that Apple flouted antitrust laws and 100% controlled the iOS App distribution market. Apple banned iPhone and iPad users from downloading software from third parties, forming a monopoly. Using its monopoly position, Apple "taxed" developers, requiring 30% of the revenue from each sale to be paid to Apple as a commission, even for purchases within the App.

"There is no compelling reason to encourage competition or any other legitimate reason for Apple to do this," the lawsuit said. "It is clear that this unnatural pricing tells us that Apple has an illegal monopoly and that it is abusing this market power with impunity."

If developers want to sell products through the App Store, they must pay an annual fee of $99. In 2017, Apple revised the "App Store Guidelines", which actually requires developers to create a new account for each client app and pay $99 per year. In addition, Apple forces developers to price their apps at no less than 99 cents, a policy that has also made many people dissatisfied.

The plaintiffs want Apple to stop its anti-competitive behavior and pay damages and legal costs.