Korea atomic energy research institute, Research institute in Daejeon, South Korea

New Delhi, Feb 24 As Apple and Google push developers towards an ad-based business model, industry stakeholders on Thursday stressed on the need to correct the power imbalance between app store operators and developers in the Indian context, urging the government to formulate a law to address developers' concerns.A virtual panel discussion, organised by the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) and the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF), deliberated on the limitations of the current legal and regulatory frameworks in dealing with such digital markets and touched upon the need for specific legislation such as the one enacted in South Korea, and currently under consideration in the US and the EU."In India, the dating app Truly Madly is priced 30 per cent higher on iOS than on Android because the 30 per cent commission hasn't been enforced on the Google Play Store as yet, highlighting how the high commission is passed onto consumers," said Sijo Kuruvilla George, Executive Director, ADIF.Google and Apple, with a combined market share of 99 per cent, currently dominate mobile operating systems and act as gatekeepers to the app ecosystem.However, a "lack of competition in the market as well as the app stores' practice of bundling of services like app review, content moderation, and transaction processing, makes it difficult to determine the 'fair' charges for these services", the experts lamented.According to Mark Buse, SVP and Head of Government Relations at the Match Group,A unlike transactions made through credit/debit cards, Google and Apple hold on to the payments for upwards of 90 days, "limiting the availability of funds for smaller and newer developers"."This dampens innovation and depresses new apps from being built," he noted.The panel also touched upon policy recommendations that can be considered by the Indian regulatory agencies to help the startup ecosystem."Payment choices for users can also be enhanced by legislating the removal of anti-steering provisions in the app store policy."These regulations can be modeled around the recent South Korean regulations which sought to achieve the same goals," the experts suggested.The lack of oversight on the imposition of app store policies leaves too much power in the hands of Google and Apple."Hence, regulations that prohibit unfair delays in review and those that hold app stores liable for wrongful removal of apps are needed to ensure a fair and transparent review system," the stakeholders said, adding that some form of governmental oversight is required to ensure that the app stores do not stifle the growth of developers.The experts also highlighted the case of the Netherlands' authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) finding Apple's app store policy as anti-competitive.Despite weekly fines of $5.7 million, Apple has not made changes to its policies that the ACM deems necessary."While the ACM has fined Apple 25 million euros till now, Apple might view it as just a slap on the wrist and the cost of doing business. In the end, it will be the customers who pay for such non-compliance by Apple," said Hannah Rickets, Deputy Director of CAF.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Korea Atomic Energy Research InstituteFOLLOW

Korea atomic energy research institute, Latest News

Seoul, Feb 28 South Korea reported 139,626 more Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the total ... ...

Seoul, Feb 26 Samsung Electronics has released its Galaxy S22 smartphones and Galaxy Tab S8 series in South ... ...

Seoul, Feb 26 South Korea reported 166,209 more Covid cases as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ... ...

Seoul, Feb 25 President Moon Jae-in said Friday that South Korea will fully use its nuclear power plants ... ...

Seoul, Feb 25 South Korea will join international sanctions against Russia, but is not considering imposing unilateral sanctions ... ...

Seoul, Feb 25 South Korea said on Friday that it plans to make a second attempt to launch ... ...

Seoul, Feb 25 South Korea reported 1,65,890 more Covid-19 cases as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ... ...

New Delhi, Feb 24 As Apple and Google push developers towards an ad-based business model, industry stakeholders on ... ...