Mike Peterson
If Epic being forced to cough up App Store fees after the trial, and Tim Cook saying multiple times that Apple would find a way to charge developers for iOS and iPadOS app purchases made outside the App Store weren't enough, a new court filing by the company further nails home the point.
Apple on Tuesday filed a reply brief with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California supporting a motion to stay an injunction that would force it to allow developers to add alternate payment links or buttons within apps.
In the brief, Apple attorneys shot down Epic Games' suggestion that the company wouldn't receive a cut of transactions that occur outside of the App Store.
"That is not correct. Apple has not previously charged a commission on purchases of digital content via buttons and links because such purchases have not been permitted," the brief reads. "If the injunction were to go into effect, Apple could charge a commission on purchases made through such mechanisms."
The issue at hand is a decision given by U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Although she largely ruled in favor of Apple, she did issue a decision that would bar Apple from prohibiting developers to add alternate payment links or buttons within apps.
Apple has repeatedly asked the court to stay the injunction.
What I've come to assume is now in black and white in this filing from Apple: If the injunction goes into effect, Apple seems likely to charge a commission on any transactions that start in the app, even if they are completed on the web. https://t.co/GVoEhiQbFS pic.twitter.com/uyXjAmM1uD
— David Barnard (@drbarnard) December 2, 2021
The section in the court filing isn't revelatory. Back during the Epic Games v. Apple hearings, Apple CEO Tim Cook specifically said that Apple would get its cut even without in-app purchase mechanisms.
"We would have to come up with an alternate way of collecting our commission," Cook said at the time. "We would then have to figure out how to track what's going on and invoice it and then chase the developers; it seems like a process that doesn't need to exist."
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
13 Comments
Apple could also monetize API usage.
Oh good. Now Apple is going to track everything you do on your iPhone and use it to bill developers. Meanwhile they are cutting back on iPhone 13 production due to lack of demand. Apple makes a lot more money from the sales of iPhones than they do from their app commissions. Developers and users can and do routinely work around Apple's existing restrictions using their web browsers. Perhaps Apple should drop the commissions entirely and focus on selling hardware?
@OutdoorAppDeveloper
I recall reading that there was a drop in orders with suppliers for every iPhone in history around 3 months after initial release… it’s called the sales cycle and it happens every year.
I actually suspect, and am partially concerned, that certain APIs could become subject to usage commissions in future. There is already plenty of telemetry data that is sent to Apple from our devices and some of it is clearly around what APIs are used and how often so they know which ones to drop over time. It wouldn’t take much to modify this telemetry and add app ID information with it and merge this data into a billing system.
This would be largely transparent to the end user, just as the telemetry data is already today.