Covering day 2 of the Epic v Apple antitrust trial and Down Dog Ceo Ben Simon is testifying. He's currently ripping Apple's app payment policies for allegedly being inconsistent and unfair to both consumers and developers. This tweet of his also came up.
Simon has many criticisms of Apple's app payment policies, but he particularly takes issue with Apple's auto-renew practices. He thinks Apple won't revoke auto-renew subscriptions immediately, b/c Apple is "hoping" to get additional payments from users who are trying to cancel.
Simon says Apple rejected app updates, including adding a "promo button" and offering free app access during the pandemic, b/c Apple prohibited "potentially triggering" phrases like “lockdown” or other COVID terms. Apple then released its own own COVID-19 symptom checking app.
Simon says he isn't getting paid to testify, and he's concerned Apple will retaliate against his biz. He says Apple tells developers they shouldn't "go to the press," and after he was named as a witness, Apple waited 33 days to OK an app update, which usually takes days.
To clarify, this trial challenges Apple’s policy of collecting a 30% commission on all in-app purchases and requiring iOS app developers to use its payment processing service. Simon basically is saying Apple delays cancel subscription requests bc it wants to keep that 30% cut.
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