(San Francisco) Apple now allows mobile app publishers to contact their users directly and offer them payment methods not controlled by the App Store, a concession announced in August that does not resolve the thorny issue of an actual opening of its platform.
The Californian group this Friday updated the regulations of its App Store, its essential platform for downloading applications on its smartphones and tablets.
Under the new rules, developers can now contact consumers individually, for example by email, to offer to pay for a subscription or other service through their website.
Therefore, they can also request basic information from them, such as their name and email address, “as long as this request is optional” for the user, specifies the manufacturer of the iPhone.
Apple proposed these changes in late August to end lawsuits against small companies that design applications.
These will be able to bypass Apple’s payment system and thus the 15-30% commission for the electronics giant.
But this concession does not satisfy many publishers, especially mobile video games, such as Epic Games.
The studio responsible for the popular game Fortnite he sued the apple brand he accuses of a monopoly. In September, a US judge partially acquitted Apple of these allegations and ordered it to stop imposing its payment system within the applications.
Both parties appealed. For Epic, the ability to redirect users to a payment method outside of the app isn’t enough – most players are happy to be able to pay directly in-game, without leaving it.
Apple is also facing investigations by US and European authorities accusing it of abuse of a dominant position.
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