The ongoing legal struggle against the Apple App Store payment policies has re -flared up on a wider front. A large group of developers initiated a new collective lawsuit against Apple and argues that the company does not deliberately comply with the judicial decision. The case claims that Apple has violated the court decision to protect its revenues and that a significant amount of earnings of developers have been lost in this process.
The first court decision in 2021 had to prevent Apple not to prevent App Store developers from directing users to alternative payment systems. This decision allowed developers to direct the user out of the App Store through connections or buttons within the application. This decision was vital for many developers who wanted to wander around the Apple commission of 30 percent.
Apple Apple does not want to quit control
However, the steps taken by Apple after the decision were not sincere in the presence of developers. According to Epic Games allegedly, Apple, apparently pretended to implement the court decision, in fact made the process difficult with new restrictions. For example, it continued to receive a commission of up to 27 percent of sales from external payment connections. Not only that, but also imposed heavy technical limitations to developers on the design and positioning of the routing buttons.
Apple’s approach was defined as “malicious harmony ve and led to the evolution of the legal process to a new stage. US judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in his last week that Apple preferred the “anti -competitive” option at every stage. Judge Rogers said that Apple was lying to the court and directed the issue to the US prosecutor’s office for a criminal investigation. This assessment caused Apple to be under pressure not only financial, but also ethical and legally.
The newly opened collective case file reveals with documents that thousands of developers have suffered financial damage when Apple did not comply with the court decision. In the case petition, the loss of income experienced by Pure Sweat Basketball application as an example event is highlighted. Hagens Berman’s law firm demands compensation on behalf of more than 100,000 developers who lost income after Apple. The company attracted attention with a similar case of $ 100 million for iOS developers.
It is also included in the documents that some high -level names in Apple reported to the implementation of the decision, but CEO Tim Cook did not listen to these suggestions. In spite of the warnings of Apple manager Phil Schiller, Cook is allegedly acting according to the suggestions of the financial team. This detail clearly demonstrates that Apple only maintains institutional interests and leaves the developer ecosystem in the background. Developers expect Apple’s grievance to find a response before the judiciary.
In addition, Apple’s policies on small and medium -sized developers are felt deeper. Although large firms can balance their losses in alternative ways, this commission burden for independent developers threatens direct sustainability. The case process prepares the ground for the re -discussion of the current economic structure of the App Store. Especially in terms of fair competition principles, Apple’s role is being re -discussed.
Despite everything, Apple seems determined to maintain its control and revenue model in the App Store. The company does not step back in its policies for external payment connections and wants to supervise every payment passing through its own ecosystem. Although this approach is defended on the grounds of user security, it causes serious reactions on the developer side. The course of the case can be decisive about how this balance will evolve.