Developers will have to put plans to steer App Store users to their own direct payments systems on the back burner. A court on Wednesday granted Apple’s request to put the change on hold while the iPhone-maker appeals the Epic Games v. Apple court ruling.
Any modifications to the App Store resulting from the lawsuit are now in limbo… quite possibly for years.
The first phase of the legal war between Apple and Epic Games is over, and a Federal court agreed with the game developer in some of the major points in their lawsuit. But Apple refuses to reinstate Fortnite and other Epic titles to its App Store during the appeals process.
The iPhone maker says this is the result of “Epic’s duplicitous conduct” leading to the lawsuit.
Apple has been ordered by a federal judge to allow iPhone software developers to point customers to their own websites to make in-app purchases. Previously, Apple required all these transactions to happen through its payment system. The change will prevent the iPhone-maker from collecting 15% to 30% of the revenue from transactions that go through developers’ direct payment systems.
This is the primary result of the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit. And it’s exactly what Epic asked for in the first place.
As the Epic Games v. Apple trial winds down, Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the witness stand Friday to deliver a big fat nothingburger.
Trial watchers were hoping Cook would deliver dramatic and explosive testimony, but he mostly dodged, demurred or couldn’t remember.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of software engineering, told a court on Wednesday that there’s more Mac malware available than Apple’s executive team is comfortable with. And he says iPhones do a much better job of protecting users.
Federighi was testifying at the Epic Games v. Apple trial explaining why he thinks the iPhone-maker’s tight control of the iOS App Store is necessary.
Apple fellow Phil Schiller took the stand Monday in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit and during testimony revealed the cost of the annual Worldwide Developers Conference: $50 million. He’s in charge of both WWDC and App Store so he brings unique insight to the ongoing court battle.
This is one of many details the long-standing Apple executive talked about on the stand.
If the judge in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit decides to rule against the iPhone-maker, she may have already signaled the significant App Store change she would order to satisfy the game developer’s complaints.
The judge asked a question that shows she’s considering allowing developers to point customers to their own websites to make in-app purchases. Currently, these purchases must go through Apple’s payment system.
At the core of Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple is the assertion that the iPhone-maker has a monopoly. With testimony from an expert witness, the game developer has begun laying out its arguments to convince the judge why she should agree.
Essentially, it claims that switching from iPhone to another device is so difficult that Apple can treat its users as if they had no other options.
The process for checking applications submitted to the App Store became the major focus of the Epic Games v. Apple court battle Friday. An important detail that came to light is that Apple employs 500 human experts checking submissions.
Epic Games used Friday’s trial testimony to bring to light fraudulent or inappropriate apps that slipped past Apple’s review team and onto the App Store. Fortunately, the problem is fixable: Put more people on the job. Double or triple the number.
In testimony on Thursday in the Epic Games v. Apple trial, Trystan Kosmynka, the senior director for the App Store review process, confirmed that around 5 million appications are submitted to the software store per year. And roughly 35% are rejected.
