Epic Games and Spotify test Apple’s new App Store rules

Fortnite shaper Epic Games and Spotify are investigating Apple’s caller App Store policies by submitting apps for reappraisal that would person antecedently ne'er been allowed. On Friday, some companies submitted caller versions of their respective apps to Apple’s App Review.

For Epic Games, it would mean the instrumentality of Fortnite to the App Store. Apple removed the crippled successful 2020 and terminated Epic’s relationship aft the institution challenged the App Store rules by adding enactment for nonstop payments successful Fortnite, up of filing its antitrust suit against Apple.

Spotify, meanwhile, hopes to let its users to bargain idiosyncratic audiobooks straight and let Premium subscribers to bargain “top up” hours for audiobook listening. (These hours tin beryllium purchased erstwhile subscribers spell implicit the 15 escaped hours they person each month.)

The streamer’s latest update comes connected the heels of Apple’s support this week of the Amazon Kindle app, which added a “Buy Book” fastener for the archetypal time. It besides follows the support Spotify received past week, which fto U.S. users entree pricing accusation for its subscription plans wrong its streaming app, among different things.

In time, much apps volition apt articulation Epic Games and Spotify to instrumentality vantage of the caller App Store policies.

For tech companies similar Epic and Spotify, the App Store argumentation alteration the justice required successful the suit is astir boosting their bottommost lines, but for smaller developers, it could interaction their quality to beryllium astatine all, as it permits caller concern models to thrive.

The updated App Store policies were rolled retired past week aft Apple mislaid a large ineligible conflict successful the antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, erstwhile a national justice ruled that Apple had not followed the court’s orders around in-app purchases. Though Apple mostly won that lawsuit, the justice directed the tech elephantine to beryllium much competitory erstwhile it comes to outgo processing.

Instead of allowing developers to nexus retired to their website to connection consumers different mode to wage for things similar virtual goods oregon subscriptions, Apple had been requiring developers to use for that permission. If granted, developers past besides had to format however the links appeared successful their apps to Apple’s liking, which included the usage of “scare screens” to pass consumers of the dangers of purchases made extracurricular Apple’s walls.

Most importantly, Apple was continuing to complaint a hefty committee connected those web income of 27%, down from 30% earlier the changes.

None of that was what the justice had successful mind, so it forced Apple to driblet its anticompetitive barriers and let developers to nexus to web acquisition options without immoderate further hoops to leap through, and without commissions.