Since August last year, it has not been possible to download the game Fortnite on Apple products. The reason is that the game maker Epic Games has not accepted Apple’s rules regarding distributing games via the App Store.
Today, all payments in and for applications on Apple products must be made through Apple’s own systems. It costs external players between 15 and 30 percent of the amount they earn on sales in applications.
Now a California court has ruled that Apple can no longer stop app developers from referring the user to their own payment solutions.
For example, a streaming service will now be able to let customers subscribe to the service via their own website, instead of using Apple’s own solution for payment, writes BBC.
With this, those who own the app will be left with a larger part of the turnover than they have done so far.
May lose revenue
Apple won on nine out of ten points in the lawsuit, but the loss on the point about payment solutions can have major financial consequences.
Shortly after the verdict became known, Apple shares fell more than three percent on Wall Street. The Apple App Store may also lose revenue on the verdict.
According to analysts, the company’s revenues are over 20 billion a year, writes Bloomberg.
Apple’s closed payment system has been hugely lucrative for the company, even though they say they do not know how much they earn from it, writes the BBC.
It is expected that Apple will appeal the verdict.
– Success is not illegal
In the high-profile lawsuit, Epic Games has claimed that Apple has run an illegal monopoly, because they have paid for players to be able to sell subscriptions and other services in their own apps.
“Epic will present Apple as a monopoly player that unfairly demands payments from players who have no choice but to accept,” Epic Games said ahead of the trial. according to The Guardian.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers disagreed.
– Apple has a significant market share of over 55% and extraordinarily high profit margin. These factors alone do not indicate antitrust behavior. Success is not illegal, she said.
“Today, the court has confirmed what we always knew: the App Store does not violate competition law. As the court has acknowledged, “success is not illegal.” Apple faces competition in all segments where we do business and we believe customers use our products and services because they are the best in the world “, Apple writes in a statement to E24.
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