Apple Updates U.S. App Review Guidelines Following Epic Games Ruling

[TechWhisperer]

Tim Cook’s insatiable greed at Apple is truly staggering. By relentlessly prioritizing profits over genuine innovation and user experience, he’s betraying the visionary ethos that once defined the company. The very leader who propelled Apple to unprecedented success is now undermining its legacy, risking its soul for short-term gains.

Tim Cook is an idiot!

 

[tubedogg]

easier for users to purchase or subscribe to content outside of the App Store, with Spotify already submitting an app update, Patreon indicating that it will do so, and Epic Games saying that it will bring Fortnite back to the U.S. App Store.

One of these things is not like the others.

Tim Sweeney wishing something does not make it so. He intentionally breached the developer agreement. He filed an antitrust lawsuit, and Apple countersued for breach of contract. The outcome of that litigation is he lost so badly that part of Wednesday’s ruling was about the calculation of how much he owes Apple in attorneys fees and costs.

Yes, the one part of the litigation he was successful in was this anti-steering provision, which Apple chose to make a thousand times worse for themselves by lying and pissing off the judge. Meanwhile that has literally nothing to do with Sweeney getting the Fortnite developer account reinstated, which account is still banned and has no path to being reinstated in the US. That litigation is over.

But definitely just keep repeating Sweeney’s wet dream like it’s somehow going to make it real.

 

[tubedogg]

The very leader [Tim Cook] who propelled Apple to unprecedented success

Steve Jobs would like a word with you.

 

[racerhomie]

Wow, can’t believe it happened. US Storefront policy has changed

 

[TechWhisperer]

Steve Jobs would like a word with you.

Jobs put Apple on the map, but it was Cook who made Apple a financial powerhouse. He’s still an idiot though.

 

[davide_eu]

I suppose I wish you well in being invested mainly to witness suffering, but this entire thing was just one of ten of the counts dealt with in the original suit and trial, the other nine of which the judge found in favour of Apple. (But you can still enjoy the suffering of Epic on those other nine – Mr Sweeney indeed never seems to have stopped complaining.)

I honestly don't understand why there people against freedom to choos and their own interests...

...but at least now I can understand why there is a orange in the room.

 

[currocj]

My nephew got a hold of one of my credit cards from my home office drawer when he was 12. I was in Europe on vacation for a month at the time (my brother lives next door to me). He created his own amazon account and charged $5,000 worth of stuff; his parents only noticed when all the packages started arriving at their house. They only were able to return about $3,000 worth of the items. He's 15 now and they never punished him for anything so he's spoiled rotten. And I got a safe.

Surely you made him repay you

 

[SanderEvers]

Probably the same way they already deal with the Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, casino, Chuck E Cheese, McDonalds, DoorDash, and other subscriptions and purchases when they give their kids unsupervised credit card access.

Difference is, those are all physical goods and services. So it's a LOT easier for a parent to see what is happening.

With a random App Store game that is created in China you will NEVER know who has the data and what they are doing with that. And you can't even see what is happening until it's already way too late to do something.

With Apple you have a very easy to use interface that tells you which apps have subscriptions, which apps have paid digital goods and you can easily contact Apple if there is an issue. Third party sellers? Well.. you never know.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Can’t wait for parents to not know how to cancel subscriptions on these out of bounds websites and try and blame Apple.

Honestly they shouldn't be raising children if they can't do this without Apple's help.

 

[MilaM]

With Apple you have a very easy to use interface that tells you which apps have subscriptions, which apps have paid digital goods and you can easily contact Apple if there is an issue. Third party sellers? Well.. you never know.

Then just don't do business with shady game publishers. If consumers indeed overwhelmingly prefer in-app purchases that are managed by Apple, then publishers will adapt and offer this option. Third-party payment for app services is optional, not mandatory.

 

[MilaM]

Can’t wait for parents to not know how to cancel subscriptions on these out of bounds websites and try and blame Apple.

I would argue, that it's much easier to accidentally buy a subscription using the App Store payment methods. It's dangerously seamless and happens all the time, also because man apps offer free trials that people forget about. Just last week a relative asked me how to cancel an $80 app subscription they did not even know they started.

 

[SomnambulantSurgeon]

While I’m not a fan of Apple opening this up to dodgy third parties, I think they have been very underhand with this.

I think they should get something for providing the tech, but they’ve hamfisted this from the start.

 

[neuropsychguy]

I hope you’re being sarcastic. The company gets 50 percent of its revenue from iPhone hardware alone. If they got zero money from the AppStore they’d be just fine. This is good for customers. Apple will now have to compete with other payment processors, making the whole thing better for customers.

Maybe. We'll see how this turns out.

What's likely is Apple raising the prices of hardware to offset the loss of revenue from this.

 

[Rogifan]

Can’t wait for parents to not know how to cancel subscriptions on these out of bounds websites and try and blame Apple.

Can you provide an example?

 

[SanderEvers]

Then just don't do business with shady game publishers. If consumers indeed overwhelmingly prefer in-app purchases that are managed by Apple, then publishers will adapt and offer this option. Third-party payment for app services is optional, not mandatory.

Yes, for an adult this is very simple. However a kid with game X from publisher Y won't know if this publisher is safe. Also third party payments ARE NOT optional since there is NO requirement to ALSO support Apple's iAPP payments.

 

[Ctrlos]

I’m in the uk and a prime subscriber.

Yeah I agree. I have very mixed feelings about Amazon. But they are ruthlessly good at what they do.

Here in the uk, the bricks and mortar incumbents laughed at Amazon when they first arrived 25 years ago and said that people prefer to shop in their stores & underinvested in their e-commerce operations.

Then they kept on competing with each other instead of co-investing in a joint e-commerce service and still practically ignored Amazon.

Until it was too late.

We can see the same thing happening now with our tv channels where they are still competing with each other and Netflix etc are eating their lunch.

Not to defend Amazon but it’s not entirely their fault. Many brick stores have closed simply because the landlords charge way too high rents. Footfall is still there in city centres but the shops are not.

 

[yabeweb]

Should be worldwide instead of US store.

 

[MilaM]

Yes, for an adult this is very simple. However a kid with game X from publisher Y won't know if this publisher is safe. Also third party payments ARE NOT optional since there is NO requirement to ALSO support Apple's iAPP payments.

I would argue, that a kid who has their own credit card, should be old enough to make informed decisions.

 

[JamesMay82]

I’m in the uk and a prime subscriber.

Yeah I agree. I have very mixed feelings about Amazon. But they are ruthlessly good at what they do.

Here in the uk, the bricks and mortar incumbents laughed at Amazon when they first arrived 25 years ago and said that people prefer to shop in their stores & underinvested in their e-commerce operations.

Then they kept on competing with each other instead of co-investing in a joint e-commerce service and still practically ignored Amazon.

Until it was too late.

We can see the same thing happening now with our tv channels where they are still competing with each other and Netflix etc are eating their lunch.

yep. I'm also in the UK.. Play.com was another big victim of Amazon. especially with all of Amazons tax loopholes and when they destroyed play they conveniently increased their pricing.

You'll remember all the fallen retailers then like our price, virgin, HMV (at the time) plus countless Indies.

its a shame.

 

[danakin]

This is a good time to invest in jewelry repair, lots of pearl-clutching coming up.

 

[Plerf]

2025: the year that ensh.ittification took over the iPhone.

 

[bluecoast]

yep. I'm also in the UK.. Play.com was another big victim of Amazon. especially with all of Amazons tax loopholes and when they destroyed play they conveniently increased their pricing.

You'll remember all the fallen retailers then like our price, virgin, HMV (at the time) plus countless Indies.

its a shame.

Thanks for completing the picture.

Yeah, I’m not sure how Amazon is allowed to get away with all of its tax loopholes …

 

[bluecoast]

Not to defend Amazon but it’s not entirely their fault. Many brick stores have closed simply because the landlords charge way too high rents. Footfall is still there in city centres but the shops are not.

True. Lots of factors in the mix. Including making us style out of town retail parks from the 80s onwards starting the drain away of big retailers from our town centres.

Uk retail does seem really broken.

 

[0049190]

I’m glad to see Apple’s death grip on iOS apps broken allowing genuine choice for the first time.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

yep. I'm also in the UK.. Play.com was another big victim of Amazon. especially with all of Amazons tax loopholes and when they destroyed play they conveniently increased their pricing.

You'll remember all the fallen retailers then like our price, virgin, HMV (at the time) plus countless Indies.

its a shame.

To be fair Play.com was heavily exploiting tax loopholes too, they were selling VAT free CD's and DVD's out of the channel islands. When the tax laws changed it killed them.

EDIT: link

Play.com closes retail business as VAT loophole closed

Online retailer makes move following the UK government's closure of a loophole allowing it to sell VAT-free CDs and DVDs from the Channel Islands

www.theguardian.com