Apple and Epic Games will play overtime. On Wednesday January 17, Tim Sweeney, the boss of the publisher of the video game Fortnite, announced that he was going to take legal action in the United States to challenge the way the Apple group chose to implement the ruling in the spring. .
This called into question the practice of anti-steering, which – except for “reading” apps like Netflix and Spotify – prohibits users from being redirected to a website to make a purchase or subscribe. . In the United States, developers are now authorized to add “buttons” And “External Links”.
Very restrictive conditions
Following this appeal ruling, Apple appealed to the United States Supreme Court. As did Epic, which failed to convince the court that the designer of the iPhone had a monopoly position in the distribution of mobile applications. On Tuesday, January 16, the country’s Supreme Court refused to investigate the case.
Therefore, Apple should end its anti-steering policy, allowing developers to insert links to their websites. Problem: The courts did not establish detailed rules, nor specify the amount of commission to be imposed on external purchases.
Apple has chosen to impose very restrictive conditions, which severely limit the possibilities of inserting external purchase links. For example, they may not appear on the app’s store, forcing users to search for what they want to buy on the publisher’s website.
Always commission
The Apple group will also force developers to pay a 12% or 27% commission on each purchase. That’s three points below the normal rate, a savings that barely offsets the transaction fees that developers must pay to their payment provider.
Apple also reserves the right to audit their internal documents to ensure app publishers pay commissions. And threatens to suspend their accounts if they refuse or don’t pay the dues.
Apple’s proposed new rules aim to limit the impact of the court’s ruling, by complicating the external purchasing process for users and preventing developers from offering lower prices elsewhere. As for Tim Sweeney, he does not respect the verdict of American justice.
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