A new report from the Korean Herald has revealed that various startups from South Korea are banding together to call for an investigation against Apple and Google. The probe would be for both tech giants’ in app purchase systems.
The group between the various developers and small scale companies have submitted a petition to the Korea Communications Commission earlier this week. In the petition, the group sought an investigation against both Apple and Google, which may be violating South Korean laws regarding in-app purchases and anti-competitive behavior. They said that Apple has been forcing developers to use their proprietary in app purchase structure since 2011.
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This payment structure has Apple take a 30 percent cut off the total expenditure as commission. Similarly, Google demands the same from gaming application, requiring them to use its own in app purchase system for games on its platform. According to Choi Sung-jin, President of the Korea Startup Forum, “While the 30 percent commission rate is too high in itself, it is more problematic that they force a specific payment system for the app markets.”
Sung-jin further added that unlike larger developers, the small scale or newer startups have fewer opportunities to negotiate the terms with either Apple or Google. Furthermore, they fear that an attempted negotiation might lead to a hike in commissions for the in app purchases done by the customer. In 2019, both known brands account for 87.8 percent of the total South Korean app market. Notably, this arrives just after Epic sued both companies for anti competitive practices regarding their respective app stores for very similar reasons.
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