Akanksha Singh –
Published on : September 11, 2021 at 15:26 IST
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a permanent injunction Friday morning in the Epic v. Apple case, placing new restrictions on Apple’s App Store rules and bringing months of bitter legal expulsions to a conclusion.
The order on Friday forced the company to allow developers to send their users to other payment systems, in a partial win for “Fortnite” maker Epic Games and other app makers.
Although app makers will be able to take steps to reduce the commission by up to 30 percent that Apple charges on sales, the tech giant refrained from branding the case an illegal monopoly.
Basically the App Store serves as the sole gateway for any type of mobile application on an iPhone or other Apple device. Apple charges a commission of up to 30 percent of app purchases or transactions, arguing that this is a reasonable fee to provide a secure, global platform for developers to store their creations.
However, Apple says that “85 percent of the nearly 1.8 million apps on Digital Shop don’t pay anything to the Silicon Valley-based tech giant.”
U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers ruling ruled that “Apple’s control over the App Store was not a monopoly, but it should let developers include links to other online places to purchase content or services.”
Apple may still need to use its payment system for in-app purchases, which means it should still get its share of transactions like buying virtual gear in games or subscriptions.
The biggest change lovers of mobile gadgets may notice that apps should start showing links tempting them to leave the App Store to spend money.
It will be difficult to predict how this decision will play out from the company’s earnings.
However it was observed by analyst Carolina Milanesi , “Most of the offerings on the App Store have been created by smaller developers, who haven’t built their payment system in the way Epic Games runs its own online shop.”
App users may feel more comfortable relying on transactions on Apple’s platform rather than entering credit card or other information on third-party websites.
The order opens up a new avenue for purchases on the iPhone.
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