Welcome to Thunderdome

TheCatt wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:19 pm Evidence of anticompetitive behaviors

Leisher wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:00 pm I always think it'd be cool if you got a case like that, but then I remember you probably wouldn't be able to tell us much about it.

Leisher wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:00 pm I always think it'd be cool if you got a case like that, but then I remember you probably wouldn't be able to tell us much about it.

TheCatt wrote: ↑Wed Jul 14, 2021 11:29 am Apple was briefly worth $2.5T today (and may be again already).

Apple Inc. AAPL 0.45% said it would allow media apps to create in-app links to sign-up pages on those companies’ websites, allowing the likes of Spotify Technology SA SPOT 1.72% and Netflix Inc. NFLX 2.26% to bypass the iPhone maker’s cut of subscriptions.

Spotify and other technology companies for years have said Apple’s restrictions were unfair and anticompetitive. The Cupertino, Calif., company previously prohibited Spotify and others from directing their users to sign-up options outside the App Store.

Apple revealed the change Wednesday, saying it was among adjustments made to close an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission and will apply globally to so-called reader apps available through Apple’s App Store.

The changes go into effect early next year, Apple said, as governments have questioned the power the company holds over third-party software developers that distribute their digital goods and services through the iPhone and iPad tablet.

Leisher wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 9:02 am This is not an area we disagreed about. Apple has no right to take money from subscriptions.

TheCatt wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 9:30 am

Leisher wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 9:02 am This is not an area we disagreed about. Apple has no right to take money from subscriptions.

I think they have a small right, but not a 30% right.

The federal judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuit brought by Epic Games against Apple, United States District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, has issued a permanent injunction that will serve as a massive blow to the walled-garden business model of Apple’s App Store.

At issue was Apple’s practice of forcing iOS app developers to give the tech giant a 30% cut of the revenue from each and every subscription or purchase and its prohibition on apps linking to third-party payment services. In the injunction, the court found that Apple will now be required to allow developers to direct users to third-party payment processors, meaning developers can now collect revenue directly, and can no longer disallow developers from using account registration data to contact users outside the app. Per the injunction:

[Apple will be] ... permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app.

Apple and Epic have been locked in a bitter, years-long feud over the App Store model, which Epic claimed was an anti-competitive abuse of Apple’s monopoly on iOS devices. Epic, the developer of the wildly popular Fortnite, tried to break out of Apple’s control by installing a third-party payment option in the game in August 2020. Apple subsequently responded by blacklisting Fortnite from the App Store, triggering the massive legal battle that blew up in its face today.