Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Omar Marques | Sopa images | Lightrocket | Getty images
Apple Thursday has made changes to its European App Store policies, saying that it considers that the new rules will help the company avoid A fine of 500 million euros ($ 585 million) of the EU for violating the law on digital markets.
THE new policies area complicated system of costs And programs for application manufacturers, some developers now paying three separate costs for a download. Apple will also introduce a new set of rules for all application developers in Europe, which includes costs called “Core Technology Commission” of 5% on all digital purchases made outside the App Store.
The changes announced by Apple are not a complete difference in the previous policy of the company that attracted the attention of the European Commission in the first place.
Apple said he did not want to make changes, but was forced by the regulation of the European Commission, which threatened fines of up to 50 million euros per day. Apple said that he thought his plan was in accordance with the DMA and that he would avoid fines.
“The European Commission obliges Apple to make a series of additional changes to the App Store,” an Apple spokesman said in a press release. “We do not agree with this result and plan to appeal.”
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not say that Apple was no longer subject to the fine. He declared in a press release that the CE was examined the new Apple conditions to see if the company is in accordance.
“As part of this assessment, the Commission considers that it is particularly important to obtain the opinions of market operators and third parties interested before deciding on the next steps,” the spokesman said in a statement.
The saga in Brussels is the latest example of Apple fiercely defending its App Store policies, a key profit source for the iPhone manufacturer thanks to costs between 15% and 30% on downloads via its App Store.
It also shows that Apple continues to claim that it owes a commission when iPhone applications are linked to digital purchasing websites abroad despite a recent court decision that has prohibited practice in the United States
The rules of management are no longer in force in us
Under the law on digital markets, Apple was required to allow the developers of application of more choices for the way in which they distribute and promoted their applications. In particular, developers are no longer prohibited from talking to their users cheaper alternatives to Apple App Store, a practice called “direction” by regulators.
At the beginning of 2024, Apple announced its changesIncluding 50 cents costs on downloads of applications excluding platform.
The criticisms, including Spotify of Sweden, repelled Apple’s proposed changes, claiming that the technology company has chosen an approach that violated the spirit of the rules and that its costs and commissions dispute the viability of the alternative billing system. The European Commission investigated for a year and said Thursday that it would again seek comments from Apple criticisms.
“From the start, Apple was clear that they did not like the idea of respecting the DMA,” said Spotify last year.
The CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, whose company has managed to modify Apple’s management rules in the United States earlier this year, accused Apple of “malicious compliance“In his approach to the DMA.
“The new malicious compliance system for Apple digital markets is clearly illegal in Europe and the United States and makes fun of equitable competition in the digital markets”, Sweeney poster On social networks Thursday. “Applications with competing payments are not only taxed but are commercially paralyzed in the App Store.”
The European Commission announcement The fine of 500 million euros in April. The Commission at the time said that the technology company could still be able to make changes to avoid fine.
Apple restrictions on leaders in the United States were launched earlier this year, following a court order in the longtime case of EPIC Games. A judge in California find that Apple had deliberately induced the court misled about its management concessions in the United States and asked him to immediately stop asking for fees or commissions for external downloads.
The order is Currently in force In the United States, it is on appeal and has already moved the economy of application development. Consequently, companies like Amazon and Spotify in the United States can lead customers to their own websites and avoid the commission from 15% to 30% of Apple.
In the United States, Amazon’s iPhone Kindle application now displays an orange “Get Book” button that binds to Amazon.com.
This story of rupture is updated.
WATCH: Apple would have had internal talks on the purchase of the IA Perplexity firm
