"We wouldn't have it any other way, because that's how our users get the best experiences possible." He added that the App Store has more than 2 million apps, showing "that a great idea can come from anywhere and touch people's lives everywhere." "Healthy competition, in every category, constantly drives everyone who makes apps, including Apple, to improve," Apple spokesman Fred Sainz said in a statement. "I think Apple gets a lot of inspiration from apps that are on the App Store," he said. Everything from the iPhone's included "Measure" app to its built-in animated emoji were originally apps in the App Store. When Apple made a flashlight part of its operating system in 2013, it rendered instantly redundant a myriad apps that offered that functionality. The imbalance of power between Apple and the apps on its platform could turn into a rare chink in the company's armor as regulators and lawmakers put the dominance of big technology companies under an antitrust microscope. They generally don't sue Apple because of the difficulty and expense in fighting the tech giant-and the consequences they might face from being dependent on the platform. Some apps have simply buckled under the pressure, in some cases shutting down. You don't want to annoy the milkman when you only have one milkman," said Ida Tin, Clue's CEO, who coined the term "fem tech." Though Tin believes her Berlin-based company can coexist with Apple, she said it highlights the "skewed power distribution" in the tech industry.ĭevelopers have come to accept that, without warning, Apple can make their work obsolete by announcing a new app or feature that uses or incorporates their ideas. "It's a love-hate relationship, of course.