March 29, 2024

To Fight Apple and Google, Smaller App Rivals Organize a Coalition

Apple has argued that Epic’s situation “is entirely of Epic’s own making.”

The new coalition could spur more companies to publicly voice longstanding complaints, its members said. Peter Smith, chief executive of Blockchain.com, said his cryptocurrency finance company had joined the group partly because it offered strength in numbers.

“Can they ban us all?” he said. “I doubt it.”

Apple has blocked Blockchain’s apps several times, Mr. Smith said. Some customers were so frustrated by the blockages that they posted videos of themselves destroying iPhones with machetes.

“These app stores have gotten so big that they are effectively deciding what customers get access to,” Mr. Smith said.

Tim Sweeney, Epic’s chief executive, said his company had received “vast, vast amounts of communication” from app developers who supported it after it sued. But many are afraid to speak up publicly, he said.

“Apple and Google have infinite ways of retaliating without it being obvious to the outside world” by slowing down apps, reinterpreting rules in negative ways or saying no to new features, Mr. Sweeney said in an interview this week.

He said Epic had a history of standing up for what it thought was right. “But of course,” he added, “it is very stressful to go through, you know, a fight with two companies that are over 200 times our size.”

Adam Satariano contributed reporting from London.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/technology/apple-google-coalition-epic-match-spotify.html

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