Chinese App Developers Sue Apple for Abuse of Market Power

Apple and China don’t share a very favorable rapport and the Cupertino giant is amidst another trouble in the Asian country after 28 Chinese app developers filed a complaint against the tech company, accusing it of “abusing its market power and control of the App Store.”

According to a report in the Financial Times, Beijing-based Dare & Sure law firm filed a case of anti-competitive behaviour against Apple in China, in which Chinese regulators alleged that “Apple was abusing its control of the iOS App Store to mistreat Chinese app developers by removing their apps without good reason and levying a high charge for in-app purchases.” Dare & Sure alleges that Apple has treated Chinese developers unfairly compared to their American counterparts, and acts in favor of those who are also Apple’s business partners.

Lin Wei, the lawyer representing the group of 28 developers was quoted as saying,”Apple founder Steve Jobs represented the American dream. By abusing the control of App Store, Apple is stopping the young Chinese developers from realizing their China dream.”

The company annoyed Chinese developers two weeks ago when Apple decided to remove all major Virtual Private Networks(VPN) apps from the App Store in China. VPN service providers received a document from Apple stating that their app was removed from the App Store because “it includes content that is illegal in China.”

"We have been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations. These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business," Apple had said in a statement.