Thread by @RogueAmoeba

We’ve spoken out about problems with Apple's App Stores before. Public pressure has led to change.

Now, the EU has opened antitrust investigations against Apple, while Basecamp is publicly fighting back against shakedown tactics from Apple.

#AppStoreAntitrust (Tweet 1/10)

After many issues early on, Rogue Amoeba has avoided Apple's App Stores. To save our sanity & revenue, we focused on direct distro via the Mac.

Sadly, problems have persisted & worsened. It's time to speak up and share stories about #AppStoreAntitrust. We'll go first. (2/10)

2008, Radioshift Touch: Our first iOS App Store app was inadvertently removed by Apple twice. It then faced competitors who broke Apple's rules, yet were allowed in the Store. An uneven playing field doomed the app. It was retired a year later. #AppStoreAntitrust (3/10)

2009, Airfoil Speakers Touch: After an incident-free v1.0 launch, v1.0.1 bug fixes were held up for 3+ months, due to Apple's total misunderstanding of how IP law works at a basic level. After much public fighting, our updates were eventually allowed. #AppStoreAntitrust (4/10)

Early 2012, Piezo: Our first Mac App Store app also had updates held up, this time due to Apple's lack of understanding of fair use. Here, much private fighting finally allowed our updates to ship. #AppStoreAntitrust (5/10)

Mid 2012, Airfoil Speakers Touch Redux: Apple first approved, then removed, a major v3 update, seemingly because it competed with an Apple HARDWARE product. A huge feature, which violated no written rule, had to be pulled. Months of work were lost. #AppStoreAntitrust (6/10)

2016, Piezo: After rule changes made Piezo incompatible in the Mac App Store, we eventually removed it. In the next year, our profit increased, as the exposure from the Mac App Store is worth far less than their 30% cut. #AppStoreAntitrust (7/10)

Now in 2020, Fission is our lone Mac App Store product, and Airfoil Satellite is our lone iOS App Store product. As a direct result of Apple’s actions, as well as policies both written and unwritten, we have no plans for future App Store apps. #AppStoreAntitrust (8/10)

Unfortunately, shipping iOS software means being on the iOS App Store. Because of this, many developers are scared to speak out.

The sad result of this continued silence is that Apple can abuse their position of power, and they are. (9/10)

We hope speaking up can bring about more open platforms, and a fairer, more robust ecosystem. This would be a boon to users, developers, and in the long run, even Apple.

We urge more developers to speak up and share their stories. Use #AppStoreAntitrust to tell yours. (10/10)