28 votes

Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchases, rules judge in Epic v. Apple

12 comments

  1. HotPants
    Link
    I presume apps will still have to advertise that they have in-app purchases on the app store? It's one of the nicest features of app store, knowing what is truly free, and what is hobbled until...

    I presume apps will still have to advertise that they have in-app purchases on the app store?

    It's one of the nicest features of app store, knowing what is truly free, and what is hobbled until you pay.

    9 votes
  2. [3]
    cfabbro
    Link
    https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1440711772483186690

    Late last night, Apple informed Epic that Fortnite will be blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem until the exhaustion of all court appeals, which could be as long as a 5-year process.

    https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1440711772483186690

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      moocow1452
      Link Parent
      Epic broke the rules, the court recognized that they broke the rules, and it's Apple's store that they broke the rules in, so I really don't see a problem here.

      Epic broke the rules, the court recognized that they broke the rules, and it's Apple's store that they broke the rules in, so I really don't see a problem here.

      2 votes
      1. Greg
        Link Parent
        It's still a fairly bold move from Apple. Epic's core argument is that Apple shouldn't have sole control, and this is a pretty perfect example to point to of why it's dangerous that they do. To...

        It's still a fairly bold move from Apple. Epic's core argument is that Apple shouldn't have sole control, and this is a pretty perfect example to point to of why it's dangerous that they do.

        To some extent I'm sure it's a negotiating tactic, but if they do go through with it I expect Epic's lawyers (and PR department) to jump on it.

        2 votes
  3. [2]
    cfabbro
    Link
    Apple Loses $85 Billion in Value After App Store Ruling

    Apple Loses $85 Billion in Value After App Store Ruling

    The stock fell 3.3%, its biggest decline since May 4, erasing about $85 billion from the iPhone maker’s market capitalization. The size of the loss is bigger than all but 98 components of the S&P 500 Index.

    4 votes
    1. knocklessmonster
      Link Parent
      That's a much bigger hit than I expected. I guess they'll also be losing a lot of shared revenues because of this, so it makes sense.

      That's a much bigger hit than I expected. I guess they'll also be losing a lot of shared revenues because of this, so it makes sense.

      3 votes
  4. [3]
    knocklessmonster
    Link
    I'm also curious about the Epic v Google suit mentioned: Google's pretty chill about buying content from the app. I know of a game (flow free) that provides everything for free on their Fire app,...

    I'm also curious about the Epic v Google suit mentioned: Google's pretty chill about buying content from the app. I know of a game (flow free) that provides everything for free on their Fire app, but has in-app purchases on their app through the Play Store. Play Store is pretty competitive, I think, in allowing third-party in-app purchases, so I don't know if that suit is going to go anywhere.

    I'm not a huge fan of Epic, and not an Apple user, but I think it's a net benefit that Apple has to allow in-app purchases. It'll still help separate good from bad apps, and Apple does have a much better track record on vetting for quality, so it will never be as bad as the Google Play landscape is.

    I guess to speculate, I'm curious about what Apple is going to do to recover some of these costs: Access fees on top of the price of access to Apple's dev tools?

    3 votes
    1. onyxleopard
      Link Parent
      I doubt that this is an option, unless it is also gated/scaled like the % cut Apple takes for sales. I.e., I'm pretty sure it would be catastrophic to the number of developers that would continue...

      I guess to speculate, I'm curious about what Apple is going to do to recover some of these costs: Access fees on top of the price of access to Apple's dev tools?

      I doubt that this is an option, unless it is also gated/scaled like the % cut Apple takes for sales. I.e., I'm pretty sure it would be catastrophic to the number of developers that would continue to work on iOS apps if Apple put Xcode and the iOS toolchain behind a paywall. For evidence of how this would turn out, look at what happened to the Safari extensions ecosystem after Apple started asking devs to pay $100/year.

      3 votes
    2. teaearlgraycold
      Link Parent
      My guess is nothing. I don't see where they have room to jack up prices.

      I'm curious about what Apple is going to do to recover some of these costs: Access fees on top of the price of access to Apple's dev tools?

      My guess is nothing. I don't see where they have room to jack up prices.

      3 votes
  5. [2]
    NaraVara
    Link
    Am I missing the wording here? It sounds to me like they're making it so Apple can't bar them from mentioning alternate payment/registration methods in Apps. It doesn't say anything about banning...

    Am I missing the wording here? It sounds to me like they're making it so Apple can't bar them from mentioning alternate payment/registration methods in Apps. It doesn't say anything about banning them from using these systems outright (which Apple could still theoretically do but probably wouldn't).

    This manages to avoid the "but what about game consoles" argument, since they generally do just ban you from using other payment systems outright. (For games anyway).

    3 votes
    1. Greg
      Link Parent
      That's an interesting one - I don't know if a judge would say that the ability to direct users to an alternate payment method inherently implies the right to use those methods? I'm not sure how a...

      That's an interesting one - I don't know if a judge would say that the ability to direct users to an alternate payment method inherently implies the right to use those methods?

      I'm not sure how a ban on using alternate payment methods would work in practice when many iOS apps are cross platform. Would that mean I'd have to have a separate iOS-only Netflix subscription, for example, because my existing one is paid through the web?