Telegram CEO Paul Durov has expressed his displeasure at Apple blocking off a major update for the instant messaging platform in its review phase without any explanation. The CEO made his views on the matter clear in a post on his Telegram channel.
“The only thing that we find discouraging is that we’re often unable to distribute the new versions of Telegram due to the obscure “review process” imposed on all mobile apps by the tech monopolies. For example, 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,” Durov said in his post.
Apple has previously blocked app updates too and has come under some criticism for that. As per Durov, such an approach by the tech giant is “demoralizing” because it affects the developers financially and leads to losses.
“If Telegram, one of the top 10 most popular apps globally, is receiving this treatment, one can only imagine the difficulties experienced by smaller app developers. It’s not just demoralizing: it causes direct financial losses to hundreds of thousands of mobile apps globally.”
Durov also brought in the matter of the 30 percent fee that the app developers have to pay to Apple and Google.
“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 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,” the Telegram CEO said.
