Epic Games v. Apple judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers just ruled that, effective immediately, Apple is no longer allowed to collect fees on purchases made outside apps and blocks the company from restricting how developers can point users to where they can make purchases outside of apps. Apple says it will appeal the order.
The ruling was issued as part of Epic Games’ ongoing legal dispute against Apple, and it’s a major victory for Epic’s arguments. Gonzalez Rogers also says that Apple “willfully” chose not to comply with her previous injunction from her original 2021 ruling. “That [Apple] thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation,” Gonzalez Rogers says.
The judge also referred the case to the US attorney to review it for possible criminal contempt proceedings.
As part of the ruling, the judge says that Apple cannot:
- Impose “any commission or any fee on purchases that consumers make outside an app”
- Restrict developers’ style, formatting, or placement of links for purchases outside of an app
- Block or limit the “use of buttons or other calls to action”
- Interfere with consumers’ choice to leave an app with anything beyond “a neutral message apprising users that they are going to a third-party site”
Apple’s senior director of corporate communications, Olivia Dalton, sent a statement to The Verge that reads, “We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court’s order and we will appeal.”
You should care, because that’s how Apple gets stronger and monopolies are created.
“Created”? There’s been a duopoly since the inception of smartphone. This ruling does literally nothing to change that. Even sideloading wouldn’t fully fix that. The only true fix is to force manufacturers to provide an unlocked bootloader and drivers (at least binaries), but I can’t see this happening.
The true fix is that politics and regulations matter, and we can’t just exchange memes all day long without ever getting involved in politics.
Because if we do not, someone else will, and chances are it’s gonna be someone looking to personally profit from our exploitation.
Yeah, kind of. However under capitalism getting regulations passed is at best a temporary fix until the capitalist hands out enough bribes. Unless by “getting involved in politics” you mean “join your local socialist party”.
Run for office.
I’m thinking about it myself, I’m no less capable than a lot of these clowns.
And no corpo can buy ever possibly buy me.
I’ve played Cyberpunk and I ain’t interested in that kind of future.
There is only one Phone on the earth that supports lots of features for disabled people. Its the IPhone. Its a monopoly.