Fortnite Takes Top Spot on App Store Charts

[AppliedMicro]

Hosting isn't free and Apple shouldn't have to eat the cost of running the App Store for free apps with in-app purchases

Apple eat the cost for lots of other apps.
If they can do it for Uber and McDonald‘s, they can just as well do it for Epic.

No reason to discriminate against a certain category of purchases.
In fact, they should be legally prohibited from anticompetitive discrimination.

 

[MacUserFella]

Pay Fortnite?

I meant on MacRumors lol, sorry, I should’ve clarified

 

[frownface]

Taking top spot makes it rather relevant thou

It does right now, because it shines a spotlight on the whole thing. But it's largely transient; fortnite will dwindle one day; but the precedents being set will haunt apple forever on the legal front.

 

[Tokenfreak]

Downloaded to rate it 1 star obviously

Yup exactly what I did too. The game sucks and the CEO even more.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

And for a fortnite there, we were forever
Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather
Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors
Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her

 

[falainber]

Hosting isn't free and Apple shouldn't have to eat the cost of running the App Store for free apps with in-app purchases. What if there was a per-download charge for free apps with in-app purchases that are handled outside the App Store? All other terms remain as-is. That would keep developers from freeloading on the App Store hosting while making money outside the system.

Nobody forces Apple to host all apps. They insist on it themselves. Government will soon help them by mandating alternative app stores. Then Fortnite will be moved to Epic App Store.

 

[falainber]

Downloaded to rate it 1 star obviously

Your evil plan obviously failed seeing that Fortnite is the most popular app in the App Store.

 

[VertPin]

Downloaded to rate it 1 star obviously

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Downloaded to rate it 1 star obviously

I downloaded and gave it a 5-star. Never played it nor will I, but I'm happy to see Apple smugness being knocked down a peg.

 

[chrono1081]

Fantastic news! More competition will bring better results for all of us.

This is such a bad take. More competition isn't always better, in most cases it actually leads to massive fragmentation (streaming services for example).

Tim Sweeny bullied and sued his way to be able to get around App Store rules while maintaining rules for his companies own App Store, how is that a good thing?

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

Also I know this is unrelated but how do I change my username on MacRumors

Is your name Diabetó?

 

[xpxp2002]

After all these years, this game is still popular.

That's what I'm most surprised about. Hasn't it been like 4 years since it was taken off the App Store?

I honestly didn't think more than a few hundred vocal crazies were that invested in still being able to download this game onto their iPhones.

 

[jole]

Now that we have concluded that one can break App Store contract with ill intent and no consequences, it will be interesting to see what will come next.

 

[waziazi]

imagine being so brain dead to side with apple

 

[turbineseaplane]

More competition isn't always better, in most cases it actually leads to massive fragmentation (streaming services for example).

Are you joking?

😵‍💫

I will take fragmented streaming services that have to compete for customers on offering and price all day long over the old cable bundle.

Did you forget about the contracts that the cable bundles had also?

It’s fantastic to be able to subscribe to what you want, when you want, and come and go as you like.

 

[VertPin]

This is such a bad take. More competition isn't always better, in most cases it actually leads to massive fragmentation (streaming services for example).

Tim Sweeny bullied and sued his way to be able to get around App Store rules while maintaining rules for his companies own App Store, how is that a good thing?

Now this is a bad take. Ironic.

 

[Krizoitz]

The kids just want to game! Let the kids game Apple ! 🎮

So buy a Switch to play it. Forcing Apple to host an app is absurd.

 

[Krizoitz]

Are you joking?

😵‍💫

I will take fragmented streaming services that have to compete for customers on offering and price all day long over the old cable bundle.

Did you forget about the contracts that the cable bundles had also?

It’s fantastic to be able to subscribe to what you want, when you want, and come and go as you like.

Apple has competition, especially in gaming. Google, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony. You could buy and play Fortnite on all those platforms. Why should Apple be FORCED to offer it too?

 

[awshucks]

I meant on MacRumors lol, sorry, I should’ve clarified

You could creating a new account.
You could also try asking them, but no guarantee they will:

Contact us

forums.macrumors.com

 

[chrono1081]

Now this is a bad take. Ironic.

No it's not. I provided examples of why the "competition is good!" often isn't good. How am I wrong in that? Also this isn't even competition, it's a known bully suing to get what he wants while being hypocritical by having his own App Store rules.

 

[MacUserFella]

Is your name Diabetó?

💔

 

[mansplains]

I bet Tim took a mental health day to seethe.

Seethe days are an upcoming feature for the mindfulness app in watchOS 12

 

[Delivered]

I still find this series of events so confusing. I support the win against Apple’s anti-steering behavior, but I thought the original 9 counts they won also gave them the right to choose who to do business with and that the store isn’t a monopoly or a “common carrier” like the telcos. I have yet to see a cogent legal explanation of what happened this week since the Judge’s comments.

Agreed it’s weird but I think perhaps apples actions in the aftermath exposed just how much control they have and made the duopoly claims seem more valid. Also I think you have to see it holistically. The areas of violator if rectify make the rest of the claims invalid so apple wins those. But apple didn’t comply so everything is back on the table. Apple overplayed so here’s the hammer?

 

[BBCWatcher]

I still find this series of events so confusing. I support the win against Apple’s anti-steering behavior, but I thought the original 9 counts they won also gave them the right to choose who to do business with and that the store isn’t a monopoly or a “common carrier” like the telcos. I have yet to see a cogent legal explanation of what happened this week since the Judge’s comments.

It's pretty simple. The judge ordered Apple to file a written brief and to send a relevant executive to court to explain why Epic's app (Fortnite) was still excluded from the U.S. App Store. If the reason was solely because Fortnite offers in-app purchase options via Web links, and/or because Epic Games sued Apple to resolve that issue, then that reason would clearly violate the judge's orders. Apple lost that issue at trial and in appeals. Apple cannot exclude apps solely on that basis — or on the basis that a party sued Apple to resolve that particular point of contention. If Apple has some other valid, legal reason to exclude a developer's app from the App Store, that's a different matter.

Apple apparently didn't have some other valid reason to exclude Fortnite from the U.S. App Store, or at least Apple wasn't prepared to explain what other valid reason(s) it has if it has one. It has to treat Epic Games (Sweden) just as it would treat Developer XYZ — and consistent with the court's rulings. Apple's lawyers presumably advised Apple's management they needed a "damn good reason" to exclude Fortnite that's unrelated to the in-app purchase issue and also unrelated to any legal actions Epic Games took related to resolving that particular issue. I can't think of any "damn good reason," and it seems neither could Apple's management.

Interestingly the European Union has helped Epic Games maintain a developer presence in Apple's App Store, so it's that much easier for Epic Games to get back in. But that's Apple's fault, really. Apple already cancelled Epic Games' previous developer account. But since Apple violated EU competition laws it had to let Epic Games (Sweden) in. Now Apple apparently doesn't have a valid, legal reason to exclude a Fortnite submission from Epic Games (Sweden) in the U.S. App Store. In short, don't violate laws. If you do, bad things may happen (from your corporate point of view).

 

[Delivered]

You can’t have a “monopoly” apologist for something that is not a monopoly.

You pay for the hardware, not the software. Apple reserves the right to operate it how they want. There is a much bigger picture here than what you’re suggesting.

We pay for both. If we pay for the hardware only we’d be able to choose the software we run on it but Apple chooses what software can run on these devices. I wish we could even remove iOS and install android on an iPhone if we wanted to. It wouldn’t take Apple much more work to do and would be a one time fix. But only Google pixel lets you change OS in the US.

Apple wants us to believe we pay for the hardware a license the software but they retain control so if we don’t honor the terms you keep a brick of a phone that will do nothing. That doesn’t sit right with me.