Apple quietly bankrolled a lobbying group for app developers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

One of Washington’s loudest tech groups, The App Association (ACT), says it proudly represents thousands of app developers across the world. But according to a new report from Bloomberg on Monday, the group receives more than half of its funding from Apple.

The report paints Apple and the ACT as strange bedfellows, especially as the company’s App Store frequently finds itself at odds with the developers whose software it hosts. Over the last few years, major software developers like Epic Games and Spotify have accused Apple of running an anti-competitive online marketplace by requiring them to use the company’s in-app purchasing system while taking a stiff 15 to 30 percent cut from all sales.

The report paints Apple and the ACT as…

Continue reading…

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.