Apple Store shake–up
Court orders compliance with 2021 injunction
APPLE HAS BEEN ordered to make immediate changes to its App Store and payments systems to comply with a 2021 court ruling.
US District Court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has found Apple in contempt of her 2021 injunction to open up the App Store to competition. That injunction, which concluded a lawsuit against Apple by Epic Games, ordered Apple to allow apps to offer alternative methods for paying subscriptions and making in–app purchases, including direct links for payments outside the App Store. The judge has now ruled that instead of complying, Apple imposed new fees, including a 27% commission on external purchases, and introduced “anticompetitive barriers” such as “scare screens” designed to deter users from leaving the App Store payment system, which she said undermine the intent of the 2021 injunction. She has ordered