What are the merits and demerits of the 'App Store' software market?

Apple surpassed the market capitalization of 2 trillion dollars (about 210 trillion yen) on August 19, 2020, and became 'the world's most valuable company'. Benedict Evans, an analyst specializing in mobile, digital media, and technology, explains the current situation that high-priced fees are charged for paid applications in the 'App Store', which is the core of Apple's business. I will.

App stores, trust and anti-trust — Benedict Evans
https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/8/18/app-stores

At the beginning of the article, Evans points out that Apple has changed the mechanism of software development to provide billions of people with an environment where smartphones can be used safely and comfortably. According to Evans, Apple has created three solutions to improve the safety of smartphones: a ' sandbox, ' 'App Store app distribution system,' and 'App Store payment system.'

The sandbox is a mechanism that creates a virtual space on a smartphone so that operations inside the sandbox do not affect the outside of the sandbox. The existence of the sandbox limits the behavior of apps running on iOS such as monitoring search results and stealing credit card numbers without the user's permission. The App Store's application distribution system allows people who are not familiar with PCs and smartphones to handle the application by omitting the effort at the time of installation, and because the payment system goes through the centralized Apple payment system, Even when purchasing apps developed by other app development companies, we are eliminating the concern that 'credit card numbers may be stolen.'

Mr. Evans praises that the above solution makes it possible for any user to use the iPhone without worrying, while ``as the iPhone has gained market share in recent years, problems have arisen''. I pointed out.

Mr. Evans points out several problems of Apple, but among them, the one that occupies the space is the problem related to the payment system of the App Store and the antitrust law. Not only does App Store's payment system charge a high fee of 15% to 30% of sales, but it does not allow 'payment systems other than App Store's payment system'. This fee is also called ``Apple tax'', and in 2020 Epic Games' application that tried to avoid Apple tax with its own payment system was deleted from the App Store, and there was a case that Epic Games sued Apple doing.

``Fort Knight'' developer Epic Games sued Apple-GIGAZINE

The criticism of the Apple tax has long existed, and in 2019 Spotify sued Apple to the European Commission for antitrust violations.

Spotify appeals to the European Commission for antitrust violations that ``Apple's too high fee will prevent fair competition''-GIGAZINE

Regarding such App Store fees, Mr. Evans said, 'It is not rent seeking etc.', and although Apple is not making a profit by abusing its position, he points out 'There is a problem with the examination process' .. In the current situation that Apple may dismiss cloud game services such as Microsoft's ``Project x Cloud'' and Google's ``Stadia'' as ``because Apple did not like it'', the App Store examination process is fair Said it was due to lack of transparency.

Apple announces that cloud game services such as Project xCloud and Stadia do not work on iOS because they violate App Store guidelines-GIGAZINE

Regarding the lack of transparency and impartiality regarding Apple's examination, Evans also mentioned a number of Apple tax exceptions. In response to a question from the Antitrust Subcommittee, Apple's CEO Tim Cook answered that 'the rules are applied equally to all app developers', but Amazon and the commission He denounced that there are many gray zones for the Apple tax, citing issues such as the secret agreement to cut the price at half .

According to the survey, Netflix, GitHub, Nintendo Switch Online, etc. are recognized as payment systems that do not go through the App Store payment system.

Apple is trying to remove apps that do not implement in-app purchase from the App Store, but there are ``many exceptions''-GIGAZINE

Evans says that the iPhone's occupying a large share of the smartphone market made the problem a reality. The iPhone has a market share of 50% in the United States, and 80% of the market share for young people only. 'Apple has always been a strong advocate of the idea of how a good computer should work.' By 2015, Apple was just one of the niche vendors Some people didn't accept it, but now Apple is in the military. Now that it's in the military, different rules should apply.' In some cases, we suggest that strict controls should be exercised to ensure proper management and curation.