![]() ![]() Justice Department investigators are reportedly probing Apple’s App Store rules.Īnd last week, European Union regulators brought charges against Apple for allegedly breaking European antitrust laws through its app store. Lawmakers in Washington held a hearing last month focused on the power of tech giant app stores. Where else has Apple’s App Store come under fire? The judge addressed lawyers on Monday from a bench surrounded by plexiglass. An audio livestream of the proceedings is publicly available, but there are strict limitations on who is allowed into the trial because of pandemic-related health concerns. The trial is taking place in a mostly empty federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif. The money made from the commission is an important revenue stream for Apple, part of the fees and subscriptions that generated $54 billion in the last fiscal year.Īpple says the tax is necessary to safeguard the privacy and safety of apps on Apple devices.Įpic estimates Apple’s profit from its App Store’s fees is nearly 80% - a figure Apple calls “simply wrong.” There are more than 1 billion iPhones globally, and the payments usually charge a 30% commission.Įpic says that fee, which critics call “the Apple tax,” is applied unfairly and falls heavily on smaller app developers, who then are at a disadvantage trying to compete with Apple’s own apps that avoid the fee. If Epic wins, Apple, a $2.2 trillion company, could be forced to reshape the policies of its highly lucrative app store, which has been the target of growing pressure from Washington and the European Union.Įpic accuses Apple of running its App Store as an illegal monopoly because it only allows in-app purchases on iPhones to be processed by Apple’s own payment system. The lawsuit that prompted the trial is about one app developer, Epic, a $29 billion company based in Cary, N.C., but the outcome could have far-reaching consequences for companies in Silicon Valley and the future of how money moves on smartphones and other devices. ![]() Epic Games, the maker of the hit video game Fortnite, brought Apple to federal court Monday for the start of what is expected to be a weeks-long blockbuster trial centered on Apple’s iron grip of a major slice of the mobile economy.
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