The founder of Telegram has described Apple customers as “digital slaves” because the company’s policy leave them with no choice but to buy its “overpriced, obsolete” hardware.
Pavel Durov said this on his social media page while accusing the tech company of submitting customers data to surveillance and censorship and at the same time harming app developers with their long review processes and profit cuts.
Speaking about Telegram updates on iOS being by Apple, he said “Our upcoming update – which is about to revolutionize how people express themselves in messaging – has been stuck in Apple’s ‘review’ for two weeks, without explanation or any feedback provided by Apple,”
He noted that, by apparently stalling the release of a new version of his Telegram messenger, Apple is abusing abusing their dominant market position.
According Durov, the review is supposed to allow the app store operator to check submitted code for any possible malware and confirm it is up to safety standards, before users can install it.
The process, he said, was “discouraging” for his team, adding that “one can only imagine the difficulties experienced by smaller app developers.”
“This harm goes on top of the 30% tax Apple and Google take from app developers – which, according to them, is supposed to pay for the resources needed to review apps,” the businessman added. “The regulators in the EU and elsewhere are slowly starting to look into these abusive practices. But the economic damage that has already been inflicted by Apple on the tech industry won’t be undone.”
Known for the strict rules for its platform, Apple, unlike Google’s Android OS, only allows approved software downloaded from the company’s store on Apple devices.
