iPhone maker in antitrust trouble, Apple app developers jump on bandwagon

Apple Inc. is under fire from the developers of basketball-workout and baby-naming apps as antitrust fever sweeps Silicon Valley.

Amid the revelation this week that Apple is among four titans of the Valley facing possible U.S. antitrust probes, the developers sued the company on Tuesday claiming its App Store suppresses competition.

They allege that Apple improperly forces them to sell through the App Store, takes a 30% cut of sales and “dictates minimum and greater price points, which prevent developers from offering paid products at less than $.99 or at price points ending in anything other than $.99.” They say it’s hard to make decent money under these constraints and in a store crowded with so many offerings — more than 2 million apps — that “no one sees them.”