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Apple Isn’t Ready to Release Its Grip on the App Store

In response to new rules, the iPhone maker announced drastic changes for users in Europe. But criticism is mounting that Apple’s new system only recreates old problems.

“The new fees and restrictions simply reinforce Apple’s hold over its ecosystem,” Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Swiss encrypted email and VPN provider, Proton, said in response to the changes. Then, , lawmakers in Brussels started to listen seriously to complaints by the likes of Spotify about how Apple’s “ tax ” was stifling competition and limiting consumer choice as they browsed the App Store’s aisles. “Especially for the big app developers with loads of downloads, who are the ones that really Apple make all their money from, that will rack up to a very high cost very quickly,” says Max von Thun, Europe director at Open Markets, a group dedicated to campaigning against monopolies.

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