As always, the devil is in the details. While the Supreme Court of the United States refused to examine the appeals of Apple and Epic Games, the decision of the Californian court, which forces the Apple firm to let iOS apps redirect users to their own websites and payment methods, comes into force. No problem, says Apple, which updated its rules and announced that developers would have to pay a 27% commission (and 12% for small businesses) on these external transactions. Epic boss Tim Sweeney has promised to take legal action against this “bad faith” application of the injunction.
Epic had in fact attacked Apple, which imposes a 30% commission on all purchases made in an app, whether MinecraftSpotify or Fortnite. Californian justice generally ruled in favor of Apple, rejecting the qualification of monopoly, while forcing the company not to prohibit external links. On the other hand, Apple is not forced to authorize alternative app stores, as Epic demanded.
The DMA law comes into force on March 7 in Europe
The situation is different in Europe. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes into force on March 7. It will apply to the five American Tech giants (Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta/Facebook, Microsoft) and the Chinese ByteDance, owner of TikTok.
The law will notably force these “gatekeepers” (“access controllers”) to authorize alternative application stores or “side loading” of apps (the downloading and installation of an unapproved application). Clearly, the text wants to force Big Tech players to open their closed platforms.
Several groups have appealed this European regulation but their appeals are not suspensive, and Apple has indicated that it will comply with the new constraints. It remains to be seen whether the company will find ways to impose its hidden “tax”.