Apple has been the victim of several lawsuits over the past few years. Controversies involving accusations that the company purposely makes its old devices obsolete, in addition to new privacy policies that tend to go at odds with standards are some examples. But the public's dissatisfaction at this time is due to the amounts charged abusively in the App Store.
A motion linked to a lawsuit was initiated by a group of UK consumers. According to users, some apps on the App Store have excessively abusive charges and because of this they request an estimated indemnity of more than BRL 11 billion.
This is probably another way for the Cupertino giant to exploit the market in an exacerbated way, reaching 30% commission on these apps. The lawsuit is already with the British Court of Appeal and after many complaints, asks for compensation from consumers for abusive charges for applications in the iPhone store.
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The cause of the abusive charge in the final value of the application is linked to Apple's new policy that limits app developers from using their own payment systems. With this, they are forced to use the native method of the App Store that is fully controlled by Apple and aims to generate excessive profits for the company. They claim to pay more than the apps actually cost.
If this action is upheld, Apple would then be obliged to compensate its users with an amount that could reach 1,5 billion pounds sterling, something around BRL 11,1 billion in direct conversion. This amount can be directed as compensation to anyone in the UK who has purchased apps from the App Store since the year 2015, making the number of indemnified people in the range of 20 million people.
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What does Apple say?
The company expressed itself in a note released by the Bloomberg portal justifying the commission that, according to her, equals 15% of eligible apps that sell goods or services on the platform. In addition, she says that 84% of the apps available on her store are free, which is of little relevance to the process, if the dissatisfaction itself comes only from paid apps.
As for the answer about the 15% commission, it is worth remembering that Apple recently changed this policy, which caused a lot of controversy among app developers who use the App Store to sell their services. Between 2015 and 2020, Apple's commission under this app was 30%, and that's the amount claimed in the lawsuit.
It is still worth remembering that this is not the first time that the Cupertino giant has been the target of legal disputes on the European continent. In January of this year, for example, the company was accused of purposefully making its edition of old cell phones like the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPhone 7 and iPhone SE obsolete, which would force its consumers to buy new iPhones. The responsible defense body has opened three lawsuits in this case and seeks compensation of 60 million euros, the equivalent of R$381 million in direct conversion currently.
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