Microsoft Thumbs its Nose at Apple With New “App Fairness” Policy
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:
Microsoft thumbs its nose at Apple with new "app fairness" policy:
Microsoft this week adopted a whole slew of "fairness principles" for its Windows app store. The list of principles does look like a decent set of guidelines for both consumers and developers-but it also looks a whole lot like Microsoft is taking the metaphorical ball, throwing it at Apple's face, and daring their iCompetitor to make the next move.
The principles, which Microsoft listed in a corporate blog post, essentially promise that Windows will keep on doing what it already does with regard to app distribution, interoperability, payment systems, and everything else.
[...] The blog post never once mentions Apple, but it is impossible to read Microsoft's declaration as anything other than a shot across Apple's bow. Microsoft said explicitly that its principles draw on work by the Coalition for App Fairness, a trade group that came together in September to push for changes to the App Store policies. That coalition's founding members include companies such as Basecamp, Spotify, and Epic, all of whom have had extremely public fights with Apple over its policies in recent months.
[...] But Microsoft in its blog post does indeed realize that it has two major app stores to its name, and the company admits that its new rules for "fairness" do not apply equally to both of them. The Xbox online store works much more like the iOS App Store than it does like software distribution for Windows. Companies like Epic have to fork over 30 percent of their take for in-game purchases to Microsoft for Xbox players just as they do to Apple, Google, or Sony for iOS, Android, or PlayStation players.
"It's reasonable to ask why we are not also applying these principles to [the] Xbox store today," Microsoft said. Instead of answering that question outright, however, Microsoft punted to an indeterminate future.
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