App Store antitrust suit seeking $1b from Apple for UK developers

Apple has been hit with a new App Store antitrust suit, which is seeking a compensation payout that could be as high as £800 million (over $1 billion), for U.K.-based developers, which accuses Apple of abusing a dominant position by charging an “anticompetitive” 30% fee on in-app sales made by app makers on its iOS App Store.

The suit also argues U.K. consumers are missing out as developers are being deprived of money that could be spent on R&D to drive forward app innovation.

Professor Sean Ennis, from the University of East Anglia Centre for Competition Policy, is bringing the class action lawsuit on behalf of U.K.-based developers, saying “Apple’s charges to app developers are excessive, and only possible due to its monopoly on the distribution of apps onto iPhones and iPads. The charges are unfair in their own right, and constitute abusive pricing. They harm app developers and also app buyers.”

Apple has previously said 85% of developers on the App Store do not pay any commission and that it helps European developers to access markets and customers in 175 countries around the world through the App Store.