Apple Prohibited from Collecting Fees on Outbound Links

A federal court has prohibited Apple from collecting fees, which were 27%, on links outside of its iOS apps and has ordered the tech giant to stop banning links to third-party websites.

A federal court has ordered Apple to stop collecting a 27% fee on links that open in an email, text message, or iMessage outside of its iOS apps and to quit prohibiting app developers from including links to third-party websites. The prohibitions are part of Epic Games' case against Apple for limiting its app on the American market.

The US District Judge, in an order on Thursday, stated that Apple willfully ignored the court injunction of 2021. The tech giant used its dominant app market share to limit crypto apps from making money. The new prohibitions may enable crypto developers to engage in a fairer market.

The court argued that Apple engaged in anticompetitive pricing practices, and despite being ordered to cease what they were doing in 2021, continued to defy the court’s order. The court concludes that Apple has continued interfering with competitive practices and further damaged other businesses, such as crypto startups. Apple was interfering with app developers' ability to communicate with customers and was further charging fees for services that were on third-party websites. The court further stated that there was no going back on defying a court order and that Apple needed to cease what they were doing immediately.

Crypto apps will benefit from the court ruling because they can experiment more freely with different business models without suffering draconian Apple fees. Due to these changes, a great crypto bull run may occur. Regardless of whether developers prefer Android to iOS, a large market share of Apple-supported apps exists.

Apple actively impeded the growth of crypto apps, therefore bottling up a great amount of potential that may very well be released now. Such anticompetitive practices hampered NFT markets because they often include various monetary practices outside of an app. Things were so bad for Apple users that they could only browse NFTs on their phones and would have to find other means to buy their favourite non-fungible tokens.

The court has reiterated its previous judgment that Apple should not engage in anticompetitive practices, such as issuing fees for consumer purchases outside of the apps. The ruling also disallows Apple from monitoring developers' purchases or requiring them to report their dealings with clients outside of the app. Apple is also disallowed from restricting link usage for particular categories. Apple has since changed many of its guidelines and seems to be irritated by the court meddling in its affairs.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the ruling was a huge developer victory. Sweeney pointed out that developers can now use their payment service alongside Apple's app. This is a massive bonus for crypto companies wishing to provide iOS services without paying Apple a fee. Customers will also benefit, according to Sweeney, because the savings will be passed on to consumers. Sweeney concludes that Apple must compete in the market like everyone else. Crypto services should also get a fair go regarding payment services. Apple shouldn’t be allowed to create a business simply by blocking other competing companies. Sweeney also pointed out that competition is good for business because the best product will get the customers, while the less-than-great product will lose customers.