A few days ago, the Minister of Economy and Finance said he wanted to sue Google and Apple for abuse of dominant position against French developers, Apple and Google have responded to the government.
Mid-week, we mentioned in this article, Bruno Le Maire, the French Minister of the Economy and Finance had committed to initiate a lawsuit against Apple and Google for ” abusive business practices “, justifying its by explaining: ” When developers want to sell their application to Google or Apple, they are charged rates. Google and Apple recover the data, can unilaterally change the contracts with developers.
Google and Apple’s response to French government threats
Faced with attacks by the Minister of the Economy and Finance in the French press and under threat of legal action, Apple and Google have responded to Bruno Le Maire. Apple said: “We are proud to have strong relationships with tens of thousands of developers across France, who have won 1 billion euros on the App Store. […] This was only possible thanks to Apple’s investment in iOS, the development tools and the App Store, “adding: ” We are fully willing to share our version in French courts and to clarify this misunderstanding.
Regarding the argument made by Bruno Le Maire on the issue of data collection, the Apple brand said: “Apple has always defended the privacy and security of users and does not have access to user transactions with users. third party applications “.
The Cupertino company also reminds the French government that a large number of French developers “founded their businesses with one or two people and then saw their teams grow to offer their applications to users in 155 countries, ” adding: ” This is ‘was possible only through Apple’s investment in iOS, development tools and the App Store ‘. A point that can hardly be contradicted …
Google, for its part, said: ” With over 1000 downloads per second, Google Play is a great way for developers to […] offer their apps to users around the world. We have collaborated with the DGCCRF on many topics in recent years, including on Google Play. We consider that our conditions are in accordance with French law and we are ready to explain our position before the courts “.
Everyone stands on his position, the standoff between the French state and the giants Apple and Google will take place in the Commercial Court of Paris.