The North Dakota Senate has downvoted a new bill that would have required Apple to stop requiring developers to use its App Store and would have allowed developers to use other in-app purchase methods.
Apple had said that passage of the bill would have threatened “to destroy the iPhone as you know it” and “undermine the privacy, security, safety, and performance that’s built into iPhone by design.”
According to the North Dakota government website, the SB2333 bill failed 11 to 36.
“The purpose of the bill is to level the playing field for app developers in North Dakota and protect customers from devastating, monopolistic fees imposed by big tech companies,” said Sen. Kyle Davison, R-Fargo who last Tuesday introduced Senate Bill 2333 to the Senate Industry, Business and Labor Committee. Davidson was referring to a 30% fee imposed by Apple and Google on in-app purchases, which he said penalizes small app developers “by raising prices and limiting choices for consumers.”
Epic Games lobbyist Lacee Byork Anderson, who was funded by the “Coalition for App Fairness,” drafted the initial legislation. The bill was backed by Basecamp co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson, who was embroiled in a legal fight with Apple over email app “HEY” last year.
The Coalition for App Fairness is an organization created by companies like Spotify, Epic Games, and Tile to highlight developer issues with Apple.
While this was a state-level bill that would only affect Apple’s App Store business in North Dakota, it could have set a precedent, spurring other states to introduce similar legislation inside their borders.
