Apple can no longer force publishers to use its payment system within their applications, and therefore to pay a commission, decided on Friday, September 10, the American judge in charge of litigation with Epic Games, which could redefine the economy of the sector.

The magistrate, on the other hand, considered that the manufacturer of the iPhone was not in a situation of illegal monopoly, which was supported by the publisher of the game Fortnite.

"Apple does not have a monopoly on the market for transactions in mobile games," ruled Judge Yvonne Rogers.

“The Court determined that Apple enjoys a considerable market share, over 55%, and extraordinarily high profit margins, but these factors are not sufficient to prove a violation of competition law. is not illegal, ”she elaborated.

On the other hand, "Apple's behavior is anticompetitive" when the Californian giant prevents developers from redirecting consumers to their own websites and payment methods, she added.

>> To read also: "Apple vs Epic: the 30% of the discord"

Epic Games has announced to AFP its intention to appeal the decision.

Epic boss Tim Sweeney on Twitter promised to "keep fighting" for "fair competition between payment methods within apps."

Like many other small and large publishers of mobile applications, Epic Game accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position by taking too high commissions on users' purchases and by forcing them to use the App Store as a mandatory intermediary between them and their users. users.

The two companies have been fighting each other for a year, when Epic broke its contract with Apple.

Its Fortnite update offered players a way to bypass the App Store payment system, and thus escape the automatic debit of a 30% commission on all of their in-game purchases.

"Today's decision is not a victory for developers and consumers"

"Apple 'won' by not being seen as a monopoly, but Epic 'won' the right to direct players to the Epic Store (its own store) as an alternative payment method. In the end: Epic won, "Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter commented on Twitter.

"Today's decision is not a victory for developers and consumers", however judged Tim Sweeney on Twitter.

"Fortnite will return to the iOS App Store (Apple's mobile operating system, editor's note) when Epic can offer its payment system in the app in competition with that of Apple, by allowing consumers to benefit from savings thus achieved. "

>> To read also: "Can the creator of Fortnite overcome the Apple model?"

Apple, for its part, was pleased to have been cleared on the issue of monopoly, as lawsuits for abuse of dominant position multiply against its neighbors Google and Facebook on the part of the American authorities and in the world.

Pending this verdict since the trial in May, the apple brand has just made a series of concessions to developers.

In particular, at the end of August, it announced a relaxation of the rules on access to means of payment outside the App Store, to end the prosecution of small businesses that design applications.

Concretely, the applications will be able to send an e-mail to their users to inform them that they can buy a subscription, for example, through their website.

In this case, the app publishers pay no commission to Apple.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR