With the judge ruling that Apple must allow alternative payment methods on the App Store, Apple could theoretically miss out on billions in revenue. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers concluded in the ruling that the court could not prove that Apple was engaging in monopolistic behavior under federal or state anti-trust laws, but that "the trial did show that Apple is engaging in anti-competitive conduct under California’s competition laws." This was the only count that the court sided with Epic Games on, with Apple winning all other nine counts.Įpic was ordered to pay millions for breaking Apple's rules initially, but this could be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost to Apple. For background on how we got here, read our primer on the Epic v Apple suit. On September 10, that decision finally came. Throughout weeks of testimony, lawyers from Apple and Epic argued their cases about digital storefronts and virtual economies, with major ramifications expected when a decision was made about the future of digital landscapes. “I suspect most app developers will find a happy medium at some point in time.A clash of industry titans took place inside a California district courtroom starting in May. “The fact remains that the App Store is the world’s most popular place to find apps,” said Kumar. Regardless of whether Apple will enact an upfront cost for app developers, it still owns the largest app market. “There is just no point for Apple to keep an app on its App Store if they’re not going to make money off of it.” “I suspect what will happen is that the model for the App Store might be tweaked down the line where you as an app developer will have to pay upfront if it’s going to have a significant amount of transactions down the line,” said Kumar of Piper Sandler. Currently, app developers like Epic Games can publish its applications on Apple’s operating system for free. I expect this to have at most a 2% headwind to overall revenue and 4% to earnings.”ĭeeper implications of the App Store with this ruling remains to be seen. As for impact, overall the App Store is about 7% of total revenue and 14% of profits. “Epic won the steering count and Apple won that it’s not a monopoly. “It’s a mixed bag for both Apple and Epic,” he said. Gene Munster, managing partner and cofounder of venture firm Loup Ventures, agrees. But Apple wants to have complete control, and that is clearly not what happened.” “The ruling is irrelevant in terms of how much of a financial impact it will have on Apple. “The ruling is definitely not as positive as Apple is trying to make it,” said Harsh Kumar, an analyst at Piper Sandler. No mention of the new requirement for alternative app store payments. She adds: “We are still analyzing the decision which is 180 pages long but the headline is that Apple’s app store business model has been validated.” “The Court has confirmed, after reviewing evidence from a 16-day trial, that Apple is not a monopolist in any relevant market and that its agreements with app developers are legal under the antitrust laws.” “We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling and we consider this a huge win for Apple,” said Kate Adams, senior vice president and general counsel at Apple, in a statement the day after the verdict was announced. We remain committed to ensuring the App Store is a safe and trusted marketplace.” “As the Court recognized ‘success is not illegal.’ Apple faces rigorous competition in every segment in which we do business, and we believe customers and developers choose us because our products and services are the best in the world. “Today the Court has affirmed what we’ve known all along: the App Store is not in violation of antitrust law,” the statement read. Apple currently collects 15% to 30% of app developers’ revenue if the payments were transacted through its App Store.Ī statement from Apple released shortly after the ruling focused only on Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ conclusion that Apple is not an antitrust monopolist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |