Information: U.S. Federal Judge and Epic Games contest whether Apple adheres to the ruling to Permit Payment Steering --
A hearing regarding the evidence from trial Epic Games v. Apple trial will be looking into the issue of whether Apple has truly complied with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' order for developers of apps to "steer" users towards third-party payment alternatives beyond the App Store's own App Store.
Hearings regarding the evidence for Apple's subsequent compliance began on May 8. AP reports that Judge Gonzalez Rogers " questioned whether Apple has set the barrage of exasperating obstacles that hinder using alternative payment options in iPhone apps," in spite of the court's instructions.
HTML0 Hearings is focused on whether Apple Policy is Still Anti-Steering
The AP report further states that judge Gonzalez Rogers' tone suggested the Apple's approach has been primarily focused on preserving Apple's profits instead of achieving the purpose of her ruling to permit the steering of customers as well as to improve iPhone users' capacity to transfer easily between several in-app payment options. The article explains that according to Epic documents, Apple is still blocking the developers from directing consumers to alternative payment options that offer lower pricing options.
The AP report continues to say that, in the course of hearing Apple Director of the iPhone App Store, Matthew Fischer disclosed that Apple is receiving and approving applications for 38 apps to display hyperlinks to payment platforms, "a fraction of the approximately two million iPhone applications available in the U.S."
PC Mag points out that the low number of applications (38 out of the 65,000 app developers who offer in-app purchase -most likely because of costs such as the 27 percent Apple fee and the additional charge for credit cards could result in more expensive cost for developers of apps.
Apple Executive 'Unaware' of the higher overall cost issue
An LAW360 story from Friday, May 10 details the proceedings as Epic attorney Yonatan Also, as and the judge Gonzalez Rogers questioned Apple Finance Vice President Alex Roman. Even suggested the 3% less fee offered by Apple which amounts to 27% in transactions that take in the absence of an app on Apple devices, in contrast to its usual in-app 30percent cost. Then Epic has also presented evidence to show that the average cost of payment processing within the U.S. is 3.5% as well as a yoga app's CEO stated that they pay 3.5 percentage to 6.5 percent fees for the processing of payments. After that, Roman said he was not aware of that, Even reiterated that the intention was to introduce a fee that would allow businesses to offer users an affordable price. Roman also demanded Roman whether he was aware of the significance behind that. He also asked the judge Gonzalez Rogers is quoted as saying to Roman that "'It appears that you have an inclination to take decision without any data that you had no information about,' she added. "It seems to me as if the goal was to keep ... the money that you have had in the past.'" Download the LAW360 report by clicking here.
Pleased to See the Judge's View using Epic
Chief Executive Officer David Nachman states that "We're delighted to have the judge supporting Epic with respect to this matter. We're hoping that the court is going to require Apple to make steering accessible to game and app developers with no fees and without restrictions. The aim of the steering program is to make it easier global commerce in software, as well as digital product companies. We're joining with our customers to celebrate this milestone towards open commerce for mobile devices."
Additional Antitrust Act against Apple launched by US Justice Department
As well as being involved in the Epic Games case, the U.S. Justice Department launched an antitrust case against Apple during the month of March 2024 in which it claimed that Apple has monopoly power over the mobile marketplace, and this includes (among other things) regarding electronic payment.
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