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Comment by zengid | Hacker News Reader

This is some spicy shit from Apple:

> “In the past, Epic has entered into agreements with Apple and then broken them,” Schiller reminds the game maker in the letter dated February 23, 2024. “You also testified that Epic deliberately violated Apple’s rules, to make a point and for financial gain. More recently, you have described our DMA compliance as ‘hot garbage,’ a ‘horror show,’ and a ‘devious new instance of Malicious Compliance.’ And you have complained about what you called ‘Junk Fees’ and ‘Apple taxes.”

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Somehow I doubt that the EU competition authority will appreciate Apple’s logic that criticizing their implementation of pro-competition regulation is valid grounds for preventing a competitor from accessing said implementation.

It’s like if your parents forced you to give a slice of your birthday cake to your little brother, and in spite you intentionally cut him a slice with no frosting. When he complains, you go: “No cake for you then!”

but epic was spitting on the cake. neither party is holy here

> In the past, Epic has entered into agreements with Apple and then broken them

That sounds like a legitimate reason to not do business with Epic to me?

Epic’s past behavior didn’t occur in the EU and was aimed at getting Apple to make the kind of concessions that the EU is now forcing upon them.

Epic seems to have followed the letter of the DMA by setting up a European subsidiary that deals with Apple’s European subsidiary. My feeling is that the antitrust people at the European Commission won’t be happy with Apple’s refusal to give them access.

If I'm an app developer, am I not allowed to complain about Apple's policies on social media?

I have seen quotes from execs that they heavily frown upon devs publicly criticizing them.

Given that notarization is basically required to run apps on all Apple platforms these days, that is deeply troubling.

At one point the official App Store guidelines outright included a threat to not complain publicly about Apple's policies, because why not.

"If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1580732/000119312514...

They may have removed the text but there is still the silent understanding that they hold grudges.

It's incredibly petty and other companies should take lesson. Oil companies should refuse to sell you gas if you talk about global warming. Musk should disable your Tesla if you own him on Twitter.

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