Retaliation now comes in a new flavor: retaliation against small software developers
Alphabet workers news
The founders of Blix, which develops and sells the messaging and collaboration software Bluemail, have accused Google of retaliatory treatment on the Google Play store in the wake of Blix's cooperation with U.S. House antitrust investigations of Google. Blix has also had serious issues with its treatment by Apple on the App Store, and in February posted a "Call for Unity Against the Biggest Tech Company" (Apple, in this case) statement on its web site. From that statement:
"... if Apple has kicked you out of its App Store, used its developer guidelines to control your innovation, hijacked your store ranking, or (let’s be honest with each other) lied to you while it steals your technology, it’s time to talk. Even if you’re not sure you want to go through with it (because we know how scary it can be), tell us your story..."
The Washington Post has reported on the more recent allegations by Blix of Google's retaliation - extracts below.
- Bruce
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www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/31/google-accused-antitrust-retaliation
Google accused by developer of retaliation for cooperating with House antitrust investigation
Blix, maker of an email app, was kicked off Google’s Play Store Friday.
Google kicked an email app off its Play Store Friday, just days after its developers revealed they were cooperating with House lawmakers who questioned the tech giants’ chief executives during a landmark tech antitrust hearing earlier this week.
The founders of Blix, the maker of the “BlueMail” app, say they believe the move was retaliation for their outspokenness on antitrust issues...
“We have been developing for the Google Play Store for more than six years, but we woke up this morning to find ourselves kicked out with no notice,” Blix co-founder Ben Volach said in an interview Friday...
On Wednesday, the antitrust subcommittee of the House Judiciary committee questioned the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google... One area of interest for the committee was the power of Apple and Google to act as gatekeepers for app developers, particularly when they compete head-to-head with those developers...
“Google either suspended BlueMail because we helped the House Antitrust Subcommittee prepare for the hearings or because Google just launched a competitor to Blix,” said Dan Volach...