Microsoft Takes Swipe at Apple, Publishes New Windows App Store Policies

Microsoft has published new app store policies for the Microsoft Store on Windows, taking a swipe at Apple in the process. The company is promising not to block competing app stores on Windows and not to block an app from Windows based on a developer’s choice of which payment system to use.

Windows 10 is an open platform. Unlike some other popular digital platforms, developers are free to choose how they distribute their apps. The Microsoft Store is one way. We believe that it provides significant benefits to consumers and to developers by ensuring that the available apps meet strong privacy, security and safety standards, while making them easier to find and providing additional tools and services so developers can focus on development. But there are other popular and competitive alternatives on Windows 10. Third-party app stores, such as those from Steam and Epic, are available for Windows and offer developers different pricing (or revenue share) options, standards, requirements and features. And developers can also easily choose to distribute their apps on their own terms directly over the internet without restrictions. The first four principles are designed to preserve this freedom of choice, and the robust competition and innovation that it enables on Windows 10.




Microsoft's post comes just after the release of a major investigation by the House Judiciary Committee which determined that Apple's App Store is a monopoly, a conclusion that Apple vehemently disagrees with.

Microsoft's 10 App Store Principles
1. Developers will have the freedom to choose whether to distribute their apps for Windows through our app store. We will not block competing app stores on Windows.

2. We will not block an app from Windows based on a developer’s business model or how it delivers content and services, including whether content is installed on a device or streamed from the cloud.

3. We will not block an app from Windows based on a developer’s choice of which payment system to use for processing purchases made in its app.


4. We will give developers timely access to information about the interoperability interfaces we use on Windows, as set forth in our Interoperability Principles.

5. Every developer will have access to our app store as long as it meets objective standards and requirements, including those for security, privacy, quality, content and digital safety.

6. Our app store will charge reasonable fees that reflect the competition we face from other app stores on Windows and will not force a developer to sell within its app anything it doesn’t want to sell.

7. Our app store will not prevent developers from communicating directly with their users through their apps for legitimate business purposes.

8. Our app store will hold our own apps to the same standards to which it holds competing apps.

9. Microsoft will not use any non-public information or data from its app store about a developer’s app to compete with it.

10. Our app store will be transparent about its rules and policies and opportunities for promotion and marketing, apply these consistently and objectively, provide notice of changes and make available a fair process to resolve disputes.

You can read Microsoft's full post on the new policies at the link below...

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