A22 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2020
BY REED ALBERGOTTIGoogle kicked an email app off
its Play Store on Friday, just days
after its developers revealed they
were cooperating with House law-
makers who questioned the tech
giants’ chief executives during a
landmark tech antitrust hearing
this week.
The founders of Blix, the maker
of the BlueMail app, say they be-
lieve the move was retaliation for
their outspokenness on antitrust
issues. They said Google had not
previously warned them about the
move. “We have been developing
for the Google Play Store for more
than six years, but we woke up this
morning to find ourselves kicked
out with no notice,” Blix co-found-
er Ben Volach said in an interview
Friday.
Google spokesman Dan Jack-
son said he would look into the
issue but did not immediately
comment on Blix’s removal from
the app store.
On Wednesday, the antitrust
subcommittee of the House Judi-ciary Committee questioned the
CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook
and Google about new evidence
the committee has gathered in an
ongoing investigation into alleg-
edly anticompetitive behavior by
the four companies. One area of
interest for the panel was the pow-
er of Apple and Google to act as
gatekeepers for app developers,
particularly when they compete
directly with those developers.
App developers have long com-
plained about the power of Apple
and Google to remove apps, some-times seemingly out of the blue
and without a detailed explana-
tion. B lix co-founders made media
appearances earlier this week, re-
vealing they had been helping the
antitrust investigators.
Until now, the co-founders say,
they have not had any disagree-
ments with Google. Last year, Blix
sued Apple for patent infringe-
ment and antitrust violations
when the iPhone maker released
an email product that was similar
to Blix’s and removed its app from
the Mac App Store. Blix has beenan outspoken critic of how Apple
tightly controls its App Store.
On Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim
Cook said the company does not
retaliate against or intimidate
competitors. Apple has restored
Blix to the Mac App Store a nd has
said it tried to work with Blix on
restoring the app.
On Friday morning, the Blix
founders said, they started to re-
ceive emails from customers ask-
ing them why the app had been
removed. Customers who
switched phones or reset themneeded to download the app again
and were unable. Some took to
Facebook and Twitter to com-
plain. Blix later received a partial
explanation from Google: Blue-
Mail had copied another App.
“Google either suspended Blue-
Mail because we helped the House
Antitrust Subcommittee prepare
for the hearings or because Google
just launched a competitor to
Blix,” said Dan Volach, who co-
founded the company with his
brother.
[email protected]Developer cooperating with antitrust probe accuses Google of retaliation
Treat Your Home To A New LookCUSTOM BLINDS, SHADES, SHUTTERS AND DRAPERYTo Schedule A FREE Design Consultation Call1-844-814-0734 | w ww.3DayOffer875.com