Apple Epic Judge “How about allowing external purchase links?”

Currently, in court, Apple and Epic Games are arguing over 30% of the App Store fee. However, it turned out that the judge in charge of the case indicated a reconciliation that allowed links to purchases outside of the application.

Reportedly, it was said in a discussion over a policy that prohibited app developers from using the App Store in-app payment system and instructing users to make purchases outside of the App Store, such as websites. Specifically, it is in the context of investigating a rule dispute that the App Store Review Guidelines 3.1.1 cannot include buttons, external links, or other functions that lead users to certain purchases other than in-app payment in in-app billing. .

Judge Gonzalez Rogers said he asked Epic Games expert witness Dr. Davis Evans, an antitrust economist, to remove the rule and solve the problems the company or other developers had about the App Store rules. Then Dr. Evans replied that it couldn’t eliminate Apple’s market dominance, but it must weaken it. However, it will not be a big solution for apps or games that do not have an alternative payment system, he added.

Apple has banned external purchases of applications for several years. That’s why, for example, you can’t buy e-books with the iOS Kindle app, and you don’t even have links to Amazon-selling sites. Netflix has also abolished in-app billing, but it is only expressing an ambiguous expression that subscriptions cannot be applied within the iPhone and iPad apps.

Epic Games’ Fortnite was removed from the App Store because it violated the rules for avoiding payments in the App Store and implementing its own purchase method. Even if you can’t buy directly in the app, if you can’t get 30% of Apple’s fees and you can promote the payment method, at least the Epic Games case improves significantly in two ways, meaning that the company does not lose money and users can buy it cheaply. It can be seen as possible.

Of course, Apple is insisting on maintaining the status quo. Judge Gonzalez asked why it was bad for customers to have the option to pay at the App Store or pay outside, and Apple’s witnesses pointed out that it would support App Store sales and prevent Apple from collecting fees. In this trial, testimony of Apple executives such as Tim Cook and Phil Schiller are scheduled, so more interesting testimony is expected to come out in the future. Related information can be found here.