A federal judge ordered Apple to ease restrictions on app developers Friday, specifically involving payment systems.
The move, which will allow companies to circumvent Apple’s commission of up to 30 percent, could upend the economics of a $100 billion online market, a major setback for Apple, as reported by the New York Times.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said that Apple violated California’s laws against unfair competition. However, as part of a larger legal case between Apple and Epic Games, she ruled in favor of Apple on other counts, including that Epic breached its contract when it allowed Fortnite users to pay it directly.
“Today the court has affirmed what we’ve known all along: the App Store is not in violation of antitrust law,” Apple said in a statement. “As the court recognized ‘success is not illegal.’ Apple faces rigorous competition in every segment in which we do business, and we believe customers and developers choose us because our products and services are the best in the world.”
