Is Apple Secretly Influencing Policies of App Association?
Apple funds more than half of the budget for The App Association, an advocacy group that positions itself as “a voice to small technology companies.”
Apple funds more than half of the budget for The App Association, an advocacy group that positions itself as “a voice to small technology companies.” According to a Bloomberg report, the iPhone-maker molds the Washington-based lobbying group’s policies behind closed doors.
Former employees of The App Association, who requested to remain anonymous, told Bloomberg that the actual percentage of Apple’s endowment could be much higher.
Apple is not a member of The App Association but is listed as a sponsor on its website and is reportedly a major force behind the group’s strategy, further signifying how large corporations could advance their interests amid the power circles in the capital. Other sponsors of The App Association include Intel, Verizon, AT&T, and Verisign.
An App Association spokesperson confirmed with Bloomberg that Apple contributes more than half of its total donations. The App Association received approximately $9 million in 2020.
The group notes it represents over 5,000 app makers and connected device companies that form a $1.7 trillion ecosystem in all 435 congressional districts, 27-member states of the European Union, and other countries.
“As the leading industry voice on the app economy for our members as well as policymakers, we provide resources and tools to help app makers understand the rules, regulations, and best practices that are critical to secure success and consumer confidence,” The App Association states on its website.
Apple has previously dealt with discontent from small developers supplying apps to the coveted App Store on multiple occasions, the most important being Apple’s 15% to 30% commission, dubbed “Apple Tax,” for in-app purchases. Apple has also been complained against in different antitrust cases.
Notably, The App Association was resistant to two legislations pertaining to leveling the playing field for small developers and companies.
The Open App Markets Act aims to dismantle the Apple and Google duopoly on the $133 billion (2021) mobile app market (99.35% market share combined). The amount is higher than the market capitalization of companies such as Intel and AMD, Honeywell, HSBC, Lockheed Martin, IBM, etc.
See More: Big Tech Using an Army of Lobbyists to Defang Privacy Laws, Claims New Report
Through OAMA, legislators seek to incorporate differential pricing, allowing alternative payment systems on the App Store besides that of Apple, inter-developer communication, prohibiting preferential treatment to the marketplace owner’s apps, sideloading, etc.
The App Association whistled to Apple’s tune of risks to its ecosystem’s privacy provisions and security framework in opposition to OAMA.
On the other hand, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act specifically address corporations self-preferencing their products and services, limiting competition, imposing material restrictions on interoperability on the platform, imparting conditional access, manipulating technical functionality, and more.
Formed in September 2020 from the embers of the Epic Games-Apple antitrust case, the Coalition of App Fairness, which count Epic Games, Spotify, Basecamp’s HEY, Match Group, and dozens of other companies against the Apple Tax, took to Twitter and expressed the following:
An association that is funded primarily by Apple and represents Apple’s interests against developers and their customers, is a front group for Apple no matter how it brands itself. https://t.co/PUgXirXV35
— Coalition for App Fairness (@appfairness) September 19, 2022
President of The App Association, Morgan Reed, told Bloomberg that the group fronting for Apple “doesn’t pass the laugh test,” and that its policies are devices based on the preferences of its members.
“Our job is to make sure we’re paying attention to the way that government can have an impact, unintended or otherwise, on all of those small businesses making cool software products,” Reed added.
Apple is also a proponent of using standards-essential patents under Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory or FRAND licensing. The App Association has thrown its weight behind FRAND.
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