So… It seems that Kaspersky doesn’t like the fact that Apple gets to dictate how apps should behave on its app store. And as a result of that, they’ve filed an antitrust complaint with the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service. That I must admit seems really sketchy to me as if it were me, I would have served it up in the US. But given their relationship with the US Government at the moment, I guess that’s possible. But in any case, this is what they are arguing:
Last year, we received a notice from Apple saying that our Kaspersky Safe Kids for iOS app does not meet the requirements of paragraph 2.5.1 of the guidelines for apps hosted in the App Store. Apple had never before had any issues with Kaspersky Safe Kids; the app had been hosted in the App Store, meeting all of the guidelines, for nearly three years.
It turned out that, according to Apple, the use of configuration profiles was against App Store policy, and Apple demanded that these be removed, so that the app could pass the review and be published in the store. For us, that would mean removing two key features from Kaspersky Safe Kids: app control and Safari browser blocking.
Both features are essential. The first allows parents to specify which apps kids cannot run based on the App Store’s age restrictions. The second allows the hiding of all browsers on the device, so kids can open Web pages only in Kaspersky Safe Kids’ built-in secure browser, which protects them from unsafe content.
So, by removing these two features from Kaspersky Safe Kids for iOS, we are massively letting down parents, who expect that their kids will be able to safely use iPhones and iPads that have our app installed. We believe it is essential that all of our customers, whether they are young or old, are completely safe and get exactly what they expect.
And:
From our point of view, Apple appears to be using its position as platform owner and supervisor of the sole channel for delivering apps to users of the platform to dictate terms and prevent other developers from operating on equal terms with it. As a result of the new rules, developers of parental control apps may lose some of their users and experience financial impact. Most important, however, it is the users who will suffer as they miss out on some critical security features. The market for parental control apps will head toward a monopoly and, consequently, stagnation.
It will be interesting to see what if Apple does to respond to this. I’m going to suggest that they could care less. But who knows? They are currently trading shots with Spotify who are accusing them of something similar. And they seem to care about that enough to take a shot at them. So it is possible that they will do the same thing here.
Stay tuned!
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This entry was posted on March 20, 2019 at 8:00 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple, Kaspersky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Kaspersky Lab Files Antitrust Complaint Against Apple
So… It seems that Kaspersky doesn’t like the fact that Apple gets to dictate how apps should behave on its app store. And as a result of that, they’ve filed an antitrust complaint with the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service. That I must admit seems really sketchy to me as if it were me, I would have served it up in the US. But given their relationship with the US Government at the moment, I guess that’s possible. But in any case, this is what they are arguing:
Last year, we received a notice from Apple saying that our Kaspersky Safe Kids for iOS app does not meet the requirements of paragraph 2.5.1 of the guidelines for apps hosted in the App Store. Apple had never before had any issues with Kaspersky Safe Kids; the app had been hosted in the App Store, meeting all of the guidelines, for nearly three years.
It turned out that, according to Apple, the use of configuration profiles was against App Store policy, and Apple demanded that these be removed, so that the app could pass the review and be published in the store. For us, that would mean removing two key features from Kaspersky Safe Kids: app control and Safari browser blocking.
Both features are essential. The first allows parents to specify which apps kids cannot run based on the App Store’s age restrictions. The second allows the hiding of all browsers on the device, so kids can open Web pages only in Kaspersky Safe Kids’ built-in secure browser, which protects them from unsafe content.
So, by removing these two features from Kaspersky Safe Kids for iOS, we are massively letting down parents, who expect that their kids will be able to safely use iPhones and iPads that have our app installed. We believe it is essential that all of our customers, whether they are young or old, are completely safe and get exactly what they expect.
And:
From our point of view, Apple appears to be using its position as platform owner and supervisor of the sole channel for delivering apps to users of the platform to dictate terms and prevent other developers from operating on equal terms with it. As a result of the new rules, developers of parental control apps may lose some of their users and experience financial impact. Most important, however, it is the users who will suffer as they miss out on some critical security features. The market for parental control apps will head toward a monopoly and, consequently, stagnation.
It will be interesting to see what if Apple does to respond to this. I’m going to suggest that they could care less. But who knows? They are currently trading shots with Spotify who are accusing them of something similar. And they seem to care about that enough to take a shot at them. So it is possible that they will do the same thing here.
Stay tuned!
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This entry was posted on March 20, 2019 at 8:00 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple, Kaspersky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.