Back in 2021, Apple lost a court case that said it would have to allow 3rd party transactions in apps from its iOS store. Now the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the ruling. The case was originally brought up by “Fortnite” creator Epic Games but will have a major impact on cord cutting.
Recently many streaming services have pulled subscription options from their iOS apps over the so-called Apple Tax. Apple keeps about 30% of any subscription paid for through the Apple app store. Apple also barred apps from offering 3rd party ways to pay, rather than be a link to a browser payment option or Paypal, for example, from being in apps on its app store.
Not that long ago, YouTube TV pulled the ability to subscribe to YouTube TV through its iOS apps. Instead, you needed to go to their website, make an account and use that to log into your iOS app. Other app makers have just charged more if you want to pay for the service using your iPhone, for example, to cover the cost.
Apple, Google, and others have reportedly made tens of billions of dollars from these types of fees. With that much on the line, you can understand why so many are watching this case so closely.
This ruling will likely be applied by Apple, but this brings the possibility of subscribing to streaming services on your iPad or iPhone without the Apple Tax closer to reality.
Now the Judges did allow Apple to keep their store closed, but the ruling says Apple must allow developers to link to other payment options from their apps.
Apple is not alone in doing this. Recently Amazon stopped selling Kindle books on Google devices back in 2022 over the fact that Google wants a 15% cut of such sales. This ruling could put all such taxes imposed by device makers at risk.
What do you think of this ruling? Do you think Apple should be able to charge what they want? Or should they be forced to let any app maker use any payment method they want? Leave us a comment and let us know.