

Loading Russell Ivanovic, the Adelaide-based chief product officer of popular podcast app Pocket Casts, said the time was ripe for Apples practices to change, given how different the landscape was now compared with the App Stores launch 12 years ago. You also have situations where Apple is using its market power to force developers to offer in-app purchases, whereas there would be less scope to do that if there was a competing app store. If you look at Apple Music versus Spotify, Apple Music has a real advantage. This would be a boon for developers, as the current situation creates an uneven playing field where Apple products can be more profitable than competing products, and the company can also create rules for app developers which see more money flow to Apple, he said. Pocket Casts Russell Ivanovic An eventual decision in Epics favour could see the removal of Apple as the single gatekeeper to development on iOS, Rice said, resulting in iPhones becoming more general computing devices akin to Mac computers. They have all the power in the relationship, and you have none. On Wednesday, a US judge ruled Apple was not able to block Epics development tools at this time, but a decision over whether Epic should be allowed to host its own store on iPhones could be a year or more away. Microsoft is also a recent victim of Apples guidelines, as plans to launch its streaming Xbox Game Pass library on iPhones were blocked.

In response, Apple removed the incredibly popular game from its store and demanded the methods be removed.Įpic then sued Apple, sparking a retaliatory threat from Apple to cut off Epics access to its development tools, which would have had a significant impact on other parts of the companys business.Īt that point, Microsoft joined Epic in the legal proceedings to argue Apples retaliation was not only illegal but representative of the excessive power it wields. Loading But Epic and others are arguing Apple has an unfair monopoly, that the distribution and monetisation of apps is a market separate from iPhones themselves, and that other payment methods should be allowed.Įven if Epic gets a favourable ruling, will people actually use alternative services Theres a lot of incumbency in the existing iOS store even if there was competition.Įpic breached App Store policy by introducing its own direct payment methods into Fortnite earlier this month. These transactions now make up a significant portion of Apples revenue. If theres a threat to those fees over time, I think that will impact how people view the stock, he said.Īdvertisement Apples notoriously strict rules require app developers to accept in-app payments only through the companys own apparatus, which incur a hefty 30 per cent transaction fee known as the Apple tax.
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Fortnite Size Drivers Of Theīut the spat between Apple and Epic means one of the key drivers of the stocks recent ascent could now be at risk.Ĭredit: James Alcock Thomas Rice, portfolio manager of the Perpetual Global Innovation Share Fund, said Apples stock resurgence it has quadrupled over the past five years is a direct result of its increased focus on services and collecting digital payments from developers, rather than sales of the iPhone, Mac and watch devices for which the company is best known. In theory, I could go to payment processor Stripe, for example, and my processing fees might be 5 per cent.Īpple shares hit fresh record highs this week, pushing the companys market value above a record US2 trillion (2.98 trillion). They are distributed monthly and used to weight your vote on polls.
