By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Jul 24 (Reuters) – Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the subject of a £785 million ($1 billion) class action lawsuit filed by more than 1,500 UK app developers over its App Store fees.
Apple’s services sector, which includes the App Store, has seen its revenue grow rapidly in recent years and now stands at around $20 billion per quarter.
However, the 15% to 30% commission that companies charge some app developers for using “in-app” payment systems has been criticized by developers and targeted by antitrust regulators in various countries.
Apple previously said that 85% of App Store developers pay no commissions and that it helps European developers access markets and customers in 175 countries around the world through the App Store.
The UK competition appeals court lawsuit was filed on Tuesday (European time) by Sean Ennis, a professor at the Competition Policy Center at the University of East Anglia and a former OECD economist, on behalf of 1,566 app developers.
“The fees Apple charges app developers are excessive and only made possible by its monopoly on distributing apps on the iPhone and iPad,” Ennis, who gets advice from law firm Geradin Partners, said in a statement.
“The fees themselves are unfair and abusive practices. They hurt app developers as well as app buyers,” he added.
(1 US dollar = 0.7802 pounds)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing in Spanish by Sofía Díaz Pineda)
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