NetEase Technology News, June 19, according to foreign media reports, on Thursday local time in the United States, Microsoft President Brad Smith (Brad Smith) said at the event that the antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe should expand the application store. Strict antitrust review.

Smith said that compared to when Microsoft Windows was convicted of violating antitrust laws 20 years ago, certain application stores pose a much higher barrier to fair competition and access. Although he did not specify which app stores, Apple and Google both run the popular app store platforms on their devices.

The Clinton administration filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in the 1990s. At that time, some people criticized Microsoft for using the control of the Windows operating system to put competitors' software developers at a disadvantage. After a long court battle, Microsoft agreed to certain restrictions on its business methods. Smith pointed out that Windows allows developers to distribute applications through multiple stores or directly to consumers.

Smith said: "The increasing demands imposed by these app stores have increasingly shown that there is only one way to enter their platforms, that is through the doors they create themselves. In some cases, they draw very high orders Sub-charging standard. In some cases, 30% of your income must be owned by the toll collector."

Both Apple and Google share a considerable share of revenue from app sales and subscriptions through their app store platforms, especially Apple. Many apps have little way to reach users without going through their app stores. For a long time, these practices have always been condemned by certain application developers, and now they have begun to attract the attention of European and American antitrust officials.

On Tuesday, major European antitrust regulators launched a formal investigation into Apple, with an emphasis on investigating how the company regulates the payment of their app stores. The agency is concerned that developers will be unfairly forced to pay part of their income to Apple as a commission. (Little)

Source: NetEase Technology Report