A new bill proposed in the Russian parliament would, if voted through, force Apple to lower its revenue cut on the App Store from 30 to 20%. Not only that: the company would also be forced to allow iPhone owners to install apps from sources other than the App Store.
The proposal, Reuters reports, was presented in the Russian lower house by Fedot Tumusov, who says he was inspired by the conflict between Apple and Epic. The proposal is not explicitly about Apple; Google too would be forced to lower the commission for apps in the Play Store. But the part about installing other app stores is obviously aimed at the iPhone manufacturer.
So far, it remains only a proposal from an individual legislator, seemingly without the support of the Russian government, and the probability of it being voted through is relatively low. But it comes at a time of increasingly widespread pushback against Apple’s methods.
Other than Apple’s public disputes with Epic and the makers of the Hey email app, this year has also seen Tim Cook grilled in front of a US antitrust subcommittee, and the App Store investigated by the EU.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.
