The Arizona House of Representatives this week passed a historic bill that, if passed, would require Google and Apple to allow Arizona app developers to choose their own alternative payment systems.
The Chamber voted 31-29 in favor of the bill (PDF), which does not directly mention any of the main mobile platforms, but nevertheless aims at both, since the text applies specifically to any “digital application distribution platform. “that has more than 1 million cumulative downloads in a calendar year from Arizona users.
The text prohibits these platforms from stopping Arizona developers or Arizona users from using proprietary payment systems in the app. It also prohibits platforms from retaliating against Arizona consumers or developers for choosing to use a payment system “that is not owned, operated or affiliated with the provider”.
The law, like that of North Dakota before it, applies to application stores and payment processing services on “general purpose hardware” such as tablets, smartphones, computers and other similar devices, but explicitly excludes “payment platforms.” distribution of digital applications for special purposes, “such as game consoles and music players. In short, it is a small target that means “Google and Apple” without actually having to mention any of them. (As drafted, the law may also apply to Mac OS and Windows app stores, but these platforms no longer restrict developers or users in the same way as Android or iOS.)
That sounds familiar …
The North Dakota state Senate last month discussed an extremely similar bill, but ended up voting 36-11 against adopting the measure. The two projects are very similar because they are being promoted by the same organization: the Coalition for App Fairness.
In August, Fifteen days developer Epic Games deliberately teased Apple by launching an alternative payment system in the short-term iOS app Fifteen days players. Apple responded within hours by booting Fifteen days off the platform, and Epic was ready. The two are now involved in a high-profile, high-risk antitrust case.
Epic is far from the only company to complain about the practices of Apple’s app stores in recent months, and a dozen other companies, including Spotify, Basecamp and Protonmail, joined it to launch the coalition in September. The lobby group, which now has more than 45 members, has proposed similar legislation in several other states; Arizona is the first in which any of the legislative chambers has presented a bill.
Both Apple and Google sent their own lobbyists to Arizona to try to stop the bill. “This bill tells Apple that it cannot use its own cash line and charge commission at the store we build,” Apple executive Kyle Andeer told Arizona lawmakers at a February hearing.
Support for the bill in the Arizona House has not fallen on party lines in the way one might expect from an antitrust bill. While antitrust reform at the federal level is more likely to come from Democrats, most of the support for the Arizona project came from Republicans. Of the 31 votes in favor, 27 came from Republican representatives and four were from Democrats. The count was almost exactly reversed among the 29 “no” votes, 25 of which were Democrats and four were Republicans.
“I think they have a monopoly on the market now,” said Congresswoman Regina Cobb, the Republican who sponsored the project. “There is no one here who doesn’t have a Google Android or Apple phone, I guarantee it.”
Alternatively, “Arizona has no interest in this fight,” said Democratic Rep. Diego Rodriguez. “We don’t have a dog in this fight, what we need to do is focus on the policies that are protecting consumers. This law does not protect consumers, it protects a $ 1 billion company from another billion dollar company.”