New US Senate bill takes aim at Apple and Google's app store policies

This story about removing the middleman, boiled down, in 1:43 minutes.

What's the fuss?

A new bipartisan Senate bill is targeting the app store oligopoly by giving more power to app developers. This probably won't go down without a fight.

The situation

The consumer-facing side of app stores (i.e. Apple and Google) are quite straightforward, but the developer-facing side is much more complex and predatory. 

• On top of needing to purchase a developer license, these app stores take a 30% commission of all app sales and in-app purchases, making developers worse off financially.
• In addition, app developers are forced to use these large ecommerce platforms to facilitate all of their app's various purchases to consumers, meaning that they cannot operate their own independent storefront to avoid this commission.

The recently introduced "Open App Markets Act" aims to even the playing field by effectively adding more independence to the current status quo of the app market. 

• The power of the bill will ban app stores from forcing developers to solely use their services, effectively allowing the creation of independent app storefronts. 
• It would also bar these tech companies from punishing developers that offer lower prices on a separate app store or through their own payment systems.

Boiling it down

The overwhelming power of large tech companies over app developers was put in the crosshairs of the federal government when the developer of Fortnite sued Apple over perceived antitrust practices. 

• Apple kicked Fortnite off of their App Store for creating their own purchasing system in-game to avoid commission costs, which Fortnite countered in court comparing Apple to "a behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation."
• The Act will effectively allow Fortnite to carry out their original plans, potentially carrying those savings to the consumer.

It won't be surprising to see the tech incumbents who own these platforms to fight back one way or another. 

• The circumvention of their existing policies would likely put a big dent in the billions they make yearly.

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