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A District Judge in California Ruled Friday that Apple COULD No Longer Prohibit app Developers from using non-appple payments Options or in -app purchas. The Decision is a significant loss for the world’s Most profitable company, and could end up taching a multibillion-dollar bite out of Apple’s App Store Revenue-and comes Amid Rising Regulatory Scrutiny of Apple and Other Tech Heavyweights Both in the US and Abroad.
In a 184-Page rulingJudge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the US District Court for the Northern District of California Said That Apple Was illegally “Engaging in Anti-Competitive Conduct” by Forcing Developers to Exclusive Payment System for In-APP Purchass-Whichses takes a cut of. Now, Apple Needs to Open the Door to Payment Outside Its Infamously Walled-Off EPSystem by December 9, Unless a Higher Court Intervenes.
The Permanent Injunction, Which Apple is Expective to Appeal, Came As Part of A Court Fight BetWen Apple and Epic Games, The Maker of the Popular Fortnite Video Game, which Apple Kicked Out of Its App Store after Epic Began Allowing and Encourage Players to Purchase in-Game Currency Directly from Epic, Rather than only Through Apple. Epic Then Sted Apple, CLALIMING THAT THE Apple App Store was a monopoly and that the Company was hampering compattition by Forcing Developers to Only use its.
Nor Chaim Gartenberg points out at the vergeFriday’s ruling “cuts right to the Heart of the Roughly $ 19 Billion A Year the App Store in for Apple, Because at the Day of the Day, the App Store Must of Its Money off in -app purchas free-to-download games”:
IT’S not a total sledgehammer to the Heart of Apple’s Walled Garden; The RULING STILL MAINTAINS The App Store as the Only Place That Users Can Go to Buy or Download New Apps, and Doesn’t Challenge Apple’s 30 Percent Cut of Those Purchasses. And the Ruling Only Technically US-Based Companies for Now, Which Bloomberg Notes Only Makes Up About $ 6.3 Billion (or about a third) of Apple’s Global App Store Revenue.
But for Companies that make free apps with in -app purchas, subscription apps, and virtuely any kind of app or service that doesn’t require an upfront payment to Purchase the app, iT a whole new game.
Gartenberg Also Notes That How the New Payment Play Out in reality for app ussers remains to be seen, and some app Developers May Decide to Stick with Apple’s Built-in System Regardless.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers Ruled Against Epic Games on All Other Counts in the Case. She said that the trial has not test that Apple “is a monopolist under federal or states antitrust laws,” and that epic had in fact violated it Contract with Apple by alternate Payment System, Owed Apple Over $ 3.5 Million as A Result, and Apple Was not Raig To reinstate Fortnite to its App Store. Epic has already announedd that it inters to appeal, and its CEO cricicized the ruling on twitter and insisted It is “isn’t awin for development or for consumers.”
Apple, Meanwhile, is framing The ruling as a Major Victory and Validation of It Its App Store Business Model – Which will Still Require High Fees and StrICT RULLES FOR DEVELOPERS. The Company’s General Counsel, Katherine Adams, Clalimed in a Statement Friday that the ruling was a “huge win,” emphasizing how the judge has “confirmed” that “Apple is not a monopolist in any relevant markets and that its Agrements with App unde Legal. Antitrust Laws. ”
On the Other Hand, nor Politico pointed out Fridayif epic couldn’t prove Apple was a monopolist in this case, the justice department is two years into its antitrust investigation into the Company – and Multiple Federal Lawmakers Are Still Spoiling for A Fight with Apple.