Apple tax is hit hard! Court ruling: App Store must open third-party payment within 90 days, Apple’s market value evaporated 547.7 billion overnight_Epic

However, in addition to the injunction against the “Apple tax”, the judge rejected Epic’s request that Apple would open up downloading channels for apps other than the App Store.

The court also Do not think that Apple constitutes a monopoly in the mobile game trading market, But “According to the California Competition Law, Apple is indeed implementing anti-competitive behavior.”

In addition, in another judgment, the court found that Epic had bypassed Apple Pay in “Fortnite” and provided direct payment options in violation of the contract.

Therefore, Epic needs to pay Apple 30% of all revenues since the launch of the system, which amounts to more than 3.5 million USD(Approximately RMB 22.55 million)。

In other words, Apple has actually won the lawsuit.

But Spotify, which has also criticized the “Apple tax”, said it was happy with Epic’s results in this lawsuit:

We are pleased that the judge ruled that Apple engaged in anti-competitive behavior and permanently prohibited its reversal clause.

The development of this event and other events around the world shows that there is a strong demand and momentum for legislation to deal with these unfair practices aimed at harming competition and consumers. This task is more urgent than ever.

We are pleased that the judge ruled that Apple engaged in anti-competitive behavior and permanently prohibited its reversal clause.

The development of this event and other events around the world shows that there is a strong demand and momentum for legislation to deal with these unfair practices aimed at harming competition and consumers. This task is more urgent than ever.

The foreign media The Verge also believes that this ruling may also have a significant impact on large companies other than Apple. For example, Google is also facing a lawsuit like Epic vs Apple.

Antitrust lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games

The wrangling between Apple and Epic Games has to be from Last AugustSpeaking of.

In August 2020, the game application “Fortress Night” under the game company Epic Games, in order to avoid the 30% “Apple Tax” rake, Bypassing Apple’s in-app purchase payment system, Provides users with cheaperDirect payment channels to purchase in-game items.

Apple certainly couldn’t bear it, and quickly removed the game from the APP Store on the grounds of violating its payment rules. Off shelf。

And after a few days Disabled all Epic developer accounts, Cut off its iOS/Mac development tool permissions.

Everyone knows that due to its own system and ecology, Apple products can only download applications in one place like the App Store. This whole thing directly makes Epic lose. All Apple user players。

△TPS game “Fortress Night” with 300 million players

Epic Games actually Grievances, This incident directly caused it to “magically change” Apple’s classic advertisement “1984” to satirize this monopoly of Apple, and then launched #FreeFortnite on social media (Night of the Liberation Fortress)topic of.

Of course, there is a more powerful declaration of war: antitrust lawsuits are filed in the courts.

In fact, it’s not just Epic, Apple will charge a percentage for all paid apps in the App Store. Up to 30%The behavior has made many people dissatisfied.

But what makes developers the most unbearable is that when consumer behavior is reproduced in such applications, Apple still has to Another 30% tax。

The most direct impact of this on our consumers is that, for example, WeChat planned to provide cloud storage services for chat records a few days ago. Apple users may need 180 yuan/year, while Android users only need 130 yuan。

This has also forced many domestic apps to come up with such a method: Apple client recharge needs to bind WeChat, and purchase tokens or redemption codes on the official account or mini program.

Even Tencent has filed a lawsuit with Apple over the WeChat reward function on the iOS system because of the rake, but the final result is reasonable.

Apple compromises and no longer rewards from WeChat official account (Because this is a personal behavior between the reader and the author)。

But the Apple Store did not violate the monopoly law

It is worth noting that the final judgment of opening the in-app purchase payment channel within 90 days will affect the Apple App Store for one year. Tens of billions of dollars in profitable business(Through the app store alone, Apple will earn approximately $19.29 billion in revenue in 2020)。

But the court still ruled App Store does not violate antitrust laws, So Epic’s previous link to its own payment channel is still a breach of contract.

So the consequence is, Plaintiff Epic also loses money。

At that time, “Fortnite”, which had 300 million players, received approximately $12.17 million in revenue through its own payment channels.

Forget it, that is, Epic still needs to pay Apple at least $3.65 million (There are other compensations)。

And Epic will still Unable to go online to the Apple Store。

On September 10, Epic Games asked Apple to restore its “Fortnite” developer account in order to re-release the iOS version of the game in South Korea, providing two payment channels, Apple and Epic.

Earlier, South Korea proposed a bill that prohibits Apple and Google from charging software developers a commission for in-app purchases.

However, currently Apple RefusedEpic’s request.

Although this legislation in South Korea has not yet taken effect, according to Apple, Epic has violated the law first, and even if the legislation takes effect, it will not have any impact on whether they approve Epic’s account-unless Epic agrees to follow the same rules as others. The rules play a “game”.

Oh, by the way, in fact, on August 26, Apple released an update to the APP Store payment rules on its official website, one of which shows: Developers can provide users with third-party payment methods for in-app consumption via email. information.

This is also based on litigation settlement agreements with application developers such as Cameron.

I won, but I didn’t fully win

In any case, Apple has regarded this ruling as a victory for the Apple App Store model.

An Apple representative said:

Today the court has confirmed a fact: App Store did not violate the antitrust law.

We remain committed to ensuring that the App Store is a safe and reliable market.

Today the court has confirmed a fact: App Store did not violate the antitrust law.

We remain committed to ensuring that the App Store is a safe and reliable market.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney also publicly expressed his dissatisfaction, believing that “this ruling is not a victory for developers and consumers.”

Currently, Epic has decided to Continue to appeal。

However, there are still many media and industry insiders who believe that a series of trends represented by this ruling indicate that the rake policy of APP platforms is being shaken.

Well-known iOS app developer Steve Troughton-Smith thinks:

Apple has lost a large part in this case.

Apple has lost a large part in this case.

Previously, Japanese regulators had also urged Apple to relax restrictions on the App Store, allowing applications such as music, magazines, and videos to direct users to external websites to pay.

In this wave, Apple has won, but it doesn’t seem to have won.

What do you think?

— over—

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