आईसीटी समाचार
Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, repeated his assault on Apple and Alphabet's Google as the world's dominating mobile duopoly, before proposing a universal app store that works across all operating systems as a solution. In a Tuesday interview in Seoul, Sweeney said, "What the world truly needs now is a single store that works with all platforms." "Right present, software ownership is dispersed over the iOS App Store, the Android Google Play marketplace, various Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch storefronts, as well as the Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store."
Epic is collaborating with developers and service providers to design a system that would allow consumers to "purchase software once and have it on all devices and platforms." Sweeney expressed his displeasure with the current state of smartphone software earlier in the day during remarks at the Global Conference for Mobile Application Ecosystem Fairness in South Korea, which has the world's first law requiring mobile platforms to provide users with a choice of payment handlers. Fortnite, his company's battle royale game, has been embroiled in a nasty legal battle with Apple and Google about income splits on their platforms. He claims that Apple "locked a billion consumers into one shop and payment processor." "Now Apple is in compliance with harsh foreign laws that monitor users and deny them political rights.
Apple, on the other hand, is disobeying laws enacted by Korea's democracy. Apple must be brought to justice." Sweeney also chastised Google, calling its practice of charging fees on payments it doesn't handle "crazy." "I'm really happy to stand up against these monopolies alongside you," the Epic Games founder added, praising Korea for spearheading the battle against monopolistic tactics and inserting anti-retaliation clauses in its legislation to safeguard creators. I'm glad to be a Korean and stand with you." In an emailed statement, Google spokesman Dan Jackson stated that the Google Play Store service charge "has never been just for payment processing." "It's how we keep Android and Google Play free and invest in the various distribution, development, and security services that help developers and users in South Korea and throughout the world," says Google.
A request for comment from Apple was not returned. Epic has been in a legal battle with Apple and Google for almost a year after launching a version of Fortnite that incorporated its own system for purchasing in-game things, forcing the issue of how they handle payments. Sweeney's firm sued the two operators after the game was withdrawn from both the App Store and the Play Store for breaking their rules. According to Epic's legal papers this week, Google formed an internal task group to address the issue of Fortnite bypassing the company's app store and fees. Apple and Google have often said that the fees they impose on sales made through their mobile marketplaces serve to ensure user security and give developers with a worldwide audience.
Sweeney sees their exclusionary methods as incompatible with the Web's basic ideals, claiming that "if the worldwide web had been integrated after the smartphone, Apple and Google would have banned all web browsers from being launched on their platforms." Sweeney does not deny Google and Apple's right to profit from their work, and Epic Games has its own Epic Games Store for PC gamers, which also charges a platform fee, although a lesser one. "There's a shop market, a payments market, and a lot of other associated markets," he explained. "It's also vital that antitrust enforcement prevents a monopolist in one market from using that market's power to impose control on other markets."
