In a court settlement, Apple relaxes its app store payment policies
Image credit: GGC Business News
The concession, which covers emailed messages but not in-app notifications, was disclosed late Thursday as part of a preliminary settlement of a nearly 2-year-old lawsuit filed on behalf of iPhone app developers in the United States.
It also addresses an issue highlighted by a federal judge who is set to rule in a separate case brought by Epic Games, the creator of the popular video game Fortnite, in the near future.
Apple will also create a $100 million fund to compensate thousands of software developers who are the subject of the lawsuit with payments ranging from $250 to $30,000.
App developers will have more possibilities to establish multiple prices within their apps, increasing the number of options from around 100 to 500.
Long-standing Apple policies prohibit app developers from emailing customers with information on how to pay for services outside the app, allowing them to avoid Apple commissions of 15% to 30%.
The concession now allows app developers to be more aggressive in persuading their users to pay by alternative methods, as long as they obtain approval from the consumers.
The settlement also addresses a concern highlighted by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers during the high-profile Epic-Apple litigation.
She asked aloud why Apple didn’t enable developers to offer a variety of payment alternatives within their apps, similar to how brick-and-mortar stores can display a variety of credit cards in addition to cash.
Apple is still refusing to let developers use in-app notifications to encourage users to try out various payment methods.
For developers who have long complained about Apple’s commissions as a sort of price gouging, simply being able to email users to explain why they should pay outside the app is a milestone.
One of the app developers who launched the complaint that Apple is now settling called the ability to email customers a “game changer.” ” In an Oakland, California courtroom, in a declaration field.
App developers will “take full advantage of this change in customer communications as a way to decrease the commissions paid to Apple even further,” according to the report. “Czeslawski, the CEO of Pure Sweat Basketball, anticipated this