With Congress’ renewed focus on addressing policy challenges after voting on government funding in November, ACT | The App Association and the Developers Alliance seized the opportunity to host a briefing focused on the relationship between small business successes and app store platforms. The presentation, “Maximizing Small App Publisher Success with Mobile App Stores,” featured opening remarks by Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23), a presentation on a recently conducted small tech business survey on app platforms, and a panel discussion highlighting the ways app stores and Congress can support small businesses. The App Association’s own Alex Cooke moderated the panel and provided context from the many stories of our member companies. Other panelists included Adri Ofman, COO of Visual Blasters; Chudi Iregbulem, founder and CEO of Beatmatch; and Maria Burns Ortiz, CEO of 7 Generations Games.

The panelists discussed the ways small businesses can leverage the tools app stores provide to distribute their apps and keep costs down. Maria shared that her company, which makes culturally-relevant educational games for specific communities like Native tribes, has seen downloads from users who found them through simply searching the app stores— giving them access to customers they would have a harder time reaching, if they were able to reach them at all. The centralized and searchable marketplaces that app stores provide allow Adri to focus on just one or two versions of his most popular apps, rather than updating dozens or hundreds of versions like he would need to if the current model were changed. For Chudi, tools like privacy controls and software developer kits keep development costs down, enabling him to focus more resources on marketing and developing new features for his users.

Congress has considered several pieces of legislation that might negatively impact these entrepreneurs, including the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA, S. 2033) and the Open App Markets Act (OAMA, not yet reintroduced this Congress). These bills would force app stores to keep malware and copycat apps on their platforms by default, harming consumer trust in legitimate apps like those offered by the panelists and App Association members generally. These legislative proposals would also make it much harder for app makers to reach customers by increasing the number of platforms on which content can be shared.

In order to remain competitive, small businesses need Congress to prioritize policies that will actually level the playing field for businesses of all sizes, not punish app stores, innovators, and consumers. Rather than pursuing false competition policies like AICOA or OAMA—which would ultimately advantage big business and bad actors—Congress should clarify the applicability of antitrust law to standard-essential patents and ensure these vital protections work as envisioned.