Apple offers fake apologies for defrauding WordPress

Apple apologizes for squeezing website tool WordPress, but just how sincere are those apologies?

While Apple is going hard against Epic Games, the billion-dollar company also has a sympathetic side. At least, they have little choice because the internet has been furious in recent days. The App Store administrator did something really nasty with one of their apps. Updates to the largest CMS, WordPress, were stopped by Apple, as long as WordPress started charging for their free service. And now Apple must be on the blisters.

Apple sewed WordPress

The story came out earlier this week already passed during the Apple vs Epic Games debate. But where Epic Games tried to bypass the App Store, in the case of WordPress, Apple was just exceptionally dirty. The free website building tool and CMS (content management system) has always been offered for free. WordPress is open source and accessible for free. But Apple couldn’t appreciate that.

So what did the billion dollar company do? Updates and bug fixes were held back until WordPress started facilitating more in-app upcoming. WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg writes this in the Tweet below. And the reason is simple: Apple wanted to collect more 30% commissions from WordPress.

Apology but …

Now Apple is reversing that decision. After all, they didn’t have a single foot to stand on and the choice was absurd from the start. But Apple rarely apologizes, so do they deserve some props in that regard? The statement (via TheVerge) reads:

We believe the problem surrounding the WordPress app has been resolved. As the developer has taken away offers from paid services, it is now a free standalone app that does not have to offer in-app purchases. We have notified the developer and apologize for any confusion we may have caused.

Apple

In the same article by TheVerge, however, the journalist digs a little deeper. And guess what? The tweak that WordPress is said to have made was made weeks or even months ago. In other words, long before Apple blocked the updates until in-app purchases were added.

So it is abundantly clear that Apple is pretending that WordPress has solved the problem. At the same time, the App Store provider does not want to enter into the public discussion. Nevertheless, Mullenweg is grateful that Apple reconsidered the controversial decision.

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