ProtonMail founder: Apple uses monopoly to “hold all of us hostage”

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The developer behind secure email service ProtonMail today came out swinging against the way Apple allegedly uses its App Store to control access to iOS users and cut out competitors. The company is all but begging regulators to take stronger action.

"Apple has become a monopoly, crushing potential competitors with exploitative fees and conducting censorship on behalf of dictators," ProtonMail founder and CEO Andy Yen wrote in a company blog post. "We know this because we have quietly tolerated this exploitation for years."

Apple, Yen claimed, is using its market power "to hold all of us [developers] hostage." Referring to the 30 percent cut Apple takes of any sales through its App Store as a "tax," he added that traditional analogies to retail space break down when it comes to software:

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