shutdown/.

Apple has followed a similar strategy for integrating the Dark Sky weather app. Apple shut down Dark Sky's Android app in August 2020 and plans to integrate the app's features with the iPhone's Weather widget on iOS 14.\2136\ In addition to its app, Dark Sky supplied data to independent weather apps, like Carrot, Weather Line, and Partly Sunny. As a result of Apple's takeover of Dark Sky, independent weather apps will lose access to the inexpensive, hyper-local weather data that Dark Sky supplied, leading some weather apps to shut down and others to rely on higher-priced suppliers for forecast data.\2137\

\2136\ Hannah Klein, The Dark Sky Android App is Officially Kaput, Slate (Aug. 4, 2020), https://slate.com/technology/2020/08/dark-sky-app-android-shuts-down.html.

\2137\ Jared Newman, Apple's Dark Sky Acquisition Could Be Bad News for Indie Weather Apps, Fast Co. (Apr. 2, 2020), https://www.fastcompany.com/90485131/apples-dark-sky-acquisition-could-be-bad-news-for-indie-weather-apps. But see CEO Hearing at 403 (response to Questions for the Record of Tim Cook, CEO, Apple, Inc.) (noting Dark Sky will \`\`continue to make its API available to Dark Sky's existing customers until the end of 2021'').

# (c) Conduct

(i) Commissions and In-App Purchases. The Committee sought information regarding Apple's policy of collecting commissions from apps sold through the App Store and purchases made in iOS apps. Apple charges a 30 percent commission on paid apps--those that charge a fee for users to download--downloaded from the App Store. It also takes a 30 percent fee for in-app purchases (IAP) of \`\`digital goods and services.''\2138\ For app subscriptions, Apple charges a 30 percent commission for the first year and a 15 percent commission for subsequent years.\2139\ Apps are not permitted to communicate with iOS users that the app may be available for purchase at a lower price outside the App Store, provide links outside of the app that may lead users to find alternative subscription and payment methods, or offer their own payment processing mechanism in the app to avoid using Apple's IAP.\2140\ Apps that violate Apple's policies can be removed from the App Store, losing access to the only means of distributing apps to consumers with iOS devices.\2141\

\2138\ App Store: Dedicated to the Best Store Experience for Everyone, Apple, https://www.apple.com/ca/ios/app-store/principles-practices/ (last visited Oct. 4, 2020).

\2139\ Id.

\2140\ See Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hearing at 584-85 (response to Questions for the Record of Kyle Andeer, Vice President, Corp. Law, Apple, Inc.); Submission from ProtonMail, to H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 5 (Aug. 22, 2020) (on file with Comm.); Interview with Source 143 (Aug. 27, 2020).

\2141\ See, e.g., Sara Morrison, Apple's Fortnite Ban, Explained, Vox: Recode (Sept. 8, 2020), https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/20/21373780/fortnite-epic-apple-lawsuit-app-store-antitrust; Nick Statt, Apple Doubles Down on Controversial Decision to Reject Email App Hey, Verge (June 18, 2020), https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/18/21296180/apple-hey-email-app-basecamp-rejection-response-controversy-antitrust-regulation.

Apple describes its policies as standard industry practice and says that other app stores charge the same fees.\2142\ In 2020, Apple funded a study that concluded that other software distribution platforms run by Google, Amazon, Samsung, Microsoft, and others charge identical or similar commissions on software downloads and transactions, and that commissions are common in other digital markets.\2143\ Apple also highlighted that its commissions are lower than the cost of software distribution by brick-and-mortar retailers, which dominated the marketplace prior to the introduction of the App