News: U.S. Federal Judge and Epic Games contest whether Apple has complied with the Order to Allow Payment Steering -
A hearing on the evidence of the Epic Games v. Apple trial is examining the question of whether Apple has truly complied with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' order for app developers to "steer" users to third-party payment options outside of the App Store's native App Store.
Hearings on the evidence of Apple's subsequent compliance began on May 8. AP reports that Judge Gonzalez Rogers " questioned whether Apple has set up a gauntlet of exasperating hurdles to hinder the use of alternative payments in iPhone applications," regardless of the court's directive.
Hearing focused on whether Apple Policy is Still Anti-Steering
The AP report further states that the judge Gonzalez Rogers' tone suggested Apple's implementation has primarily focussed on preserving Apple's profits, rather than complying with the purpose of her order to allow the steering of customers and to increase iPhone customers' ability move easily between different in-app payment options. The piece explains that, according to Epic documents, Apple is still blocking developers from steering consumers towards other payment methods with cheaper pricing options.
The AP report continues to say that, in the course of the hearing Apple director of the iPhone App Store, Matthew Fischer revealed that Apple has received and approved applications for 38 apps to display hyperlinks to payment platforms, "a fraction of the approximately 2 million iPhone apps available in the U.S."
PC Mag points out that this low application number (38 out of 65,000 app creators that offer in-app purchases -most likely because of costs as the 27% Apple fee and the additional cost of credit card charges could result in more expensive overall price for app developers.
Apple Executive 'Unaware' of the higher overall cost issue
A LAW360 piece from Friday, May 10 recounts that day's proceedings as Epic attorney Yonatan Even as well as the judge Gonzalez Rogers questioned Apple Finance Vice President Alex Roman. Even suggested the 3% lower fee from Apple that is 27% for transactions taking place without an app installed on Apple devices, as opposed to its usual in-app 30percent fee and then Epic also provided evidence that the average cost of payments within the U.S. is 3.5% and a yoga application CEO stating that they pay 3.5% to 6.5 percent fees for payment processing. Following that, Roman said he was not aware of that, Even reiterated that the intention was to create a fee that would allow companies to give users an affordable price. He also asked Roman if he understood the significance of that. The judge Gonzalez Rogers is quoted as stating to Roman that "'It seems like you had a tendency to make decisions with no data,' she said. 'It sounds to me as if the goal was to keep ... the income that you have had in the past.'" Access the LAW360 report here.
Pleased to See the Judge's Side with Epic
The CEO David Nachman states that "We're delighted to have the judge siding with Epic in this exchange We're hoping that the court will require Apple to let steering be available for game and application developers without fees and unnecessary limits. Its aim is to make it easier for worldwide commerce for software as well as digital products companies. we're joining our clients in celebrating this step towards free commerce on mobile devices."
Additional Antitrust Action against Apple Launched by US Justice Department
Alongside in addition to the Epic Games case, the U.S. Justice Department launched an antitrust lawsuit against Apple in the month of March 2024 in which it claimed that Apple holds monopoly control over the mobile market, and this includes (among other things) on the subject of electronic payments.