Tag: epic

Apple Blocks Fortnite Maker Epic Games From Launching Its Own iOS Store in EU

Apple escalated its feud with Epic Games on Wednesday, blocking the Fortnite video-game maker from launching its own online marketplace on iPhones and iPads in Europe.

The two companies have been in a legal battle since 2020, when the gaming firm alleged that Apple’s practice of charging up to 30 percent commissions on in-app payments on its iPhone Operating System (iOS) devices violated US antitrust rules.

The latest challenge from Epic comes as Apple struggles with concerns about tepid demand for its iPhones in China, and its stock has tumbled 12 percent so far this year, underperforming its big tech peers in the US Its shares were largely unchanged on Wednesday.

Attempts by regulators and competitors such as Epic to pave the way for rival marketplaces on Apple’s devices are a major threat to the Silicon Valley heavyweight’s profits and control of its own ecosystem.

European lawmakers are forcing Apple to allow those third-party marketplaces with a law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that takes effect this week.

Separately, Brussels antitrust regulators on Monday fined Apple EUR 1.84 billion ($2 billion or roughly Rs. 16,547 crore) for thwarting competition from music streaming rivals via restrictions on its App Store, Apple’s first ever penalty for breaching EU rules.

Epic was working to take advantage of the DMA, but Apple blocked those efforts on Wednesday, citing Epic’s past breaches of contract in the long-running legal dispute.

Apple terminated a new developer account that Epic had created in Sweden. Epic had created the account in an effort to put Fortnite and other games back on iPhones in Europe by running its own game store on Apple’s devices. Apple must allow third-party stores on its devices, under the new European law.

The developer accounts are important because software creators cannot distribute apps to iPhones and iPads without one. Apple had previously terminated some of Epic’s developer accounts in 2020, after Epic purposely broke Apple’s in-app payment rules, using its violation of the rules and subsequent banishment from the App Store as the core of public relations and legal campaign against Apple.

Apple said on Wednesday the court rulings have made clear that it has “sole discretion” to terminate any Epic Games developer account in light of its “egregious” breaches of the company’s developer agreements.

“In light of Epic’s past and ongoing behavior, Apple chose to exercise that right” to terminate Epic Games’ account, Apple said.

Epic alleged that by terminating its account, Apple was removing one of the largest potential competitors to the Apple App Store.

“This is a serious violation of the DMA and shows Apple has no intention of allowing true competition on iOS devices,” Epic Games said.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple in January proposed certain changes ahead of a March 7 deadline to comply with certain conditions of the DMA, a legislation meant to make it easier for European users to move between competing services.

The company said it would allow alternative app stores on iPhones and an opt-out from using the in-app payments system, but set a “core technology fee” of 50 euro cents per user account per year for developers who sign up for the new regime.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

Apple launched the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022) alongside the new Apple TV this week. We discuss the company’s latest products, along with our review of the iPhone 14 Pro on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Google Paid Billions to Make Play Store and Assistant Default Apps on Samsung Phones, Google Executive Says

Google paid Samsung billions of dollars in order to make the search giant’s app store, assistant, search engine, and other services the default options on smartphones made by the latter, according to information that has emerged during the ongoing Google vs Epic Games trial. On Monday, Google Vice President for Partnerships James Kolotouros revealed that the company signed deals with various smartphone manufacturers, including the South Korean tech conglomerate, to have the Google Play store installed out-of-the-box on Android phones.

Bloomberg reports that Kolotouros’ testimony during the ongoing Google vs Epic Games trial revealed that around half of Google’s Play Store revenue comes from customers who own Samsung devices. The executive also said that the company planned to create a system to split revenue from the Play Store with smartphone makers in exchange for having the firm’s apps preinstalled on their smartphones.

Under Google’s ‘Project Banyan’ initiative that began in 2019, the company planned to spend $200 million on a deal that would have Samsung distribute its Galaxy Store app via the Play Store, according to the report. While that deal did not work out, the company agreed to pay Samsung $8 billion (roughly Rs. 66,500 crore) over a period of four years to have the Play Store exist on Samsung phones alongside the smartphone maker’s app store.

On Tuesday, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai also testified that the search giant pays Apple 36 percent of Safari search revenue in exchange for its service being the default on the company’s smartphones. Epic’s attorney reportedly asked Pichai if the amount paid by Google to Apple was higher than what it paid Samsung, and the CEO stated that it was possible but added that it was like comparing apples and oranges.

The ongoing Google vs Epic trial has seen the latter produce several pieces of evidence as it tries to build a case against the search giant’s app store. Epic alleges that Google made the deals to protect its Play Store operating profit that — estimated by the game publisher to be over $12 billion (roughly Rs. 99,700 crore) in 2021 — by preventing the spread of alternative, or third-party app stores.

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Google Requests US Court to Dismiss Lawsuits Over Its App Store Policies

Alphabet‘s Google asked a court late Thursday to toss out several allegations made by Epic, Match and U.S. state attorneys general about how the search and advertising giant runs its app store for Android phones.

Google’s motion is the company’s latest bid to end costly and time-consuming antitrust lawsuits. It has also asked a federal court in Washington to dismiss claims in a 2020 antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department. And it has asked a federal court in Virginia to dismiss a complaint that the federal government filed this year.

“Google looks forward to vindicating itself at trial and defending the innovation that made Android successful,” the company said in its filing, noting that it had brought a “targeted motion for partial summary judgment, which will narrow this sprawling antitrust case for trial.”

In its court filing in federal court in California on Thursday, Google asked that five claims be thrown out.

Among them, it asked the court to toss out allegations that Google prohibited the distribution of other app stores and, thus, broke the law. Google argued it does not have a legal obligation to put other app stores in Android and, in fact, most Android phones come preloaded with more than one app store and others can be installed.

It also asked the court to toss out allegations related to Project Hug, where Google paid game developers to keep their games in Google’s Play Store rather than releasing them independently. Again, Google argued that game developers are not prevented from creating alternate app stores.

Google also argued that revenue sharing agreements with wireless carriers had expired more than four years ago, and were outside the statute of limitations.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

Xiaomi launched its camera focussed flagship Xiaomi 13 Ultra smartphone, while Apple opened it’s first stores in India this week. We discuss these developments, as well as other reports on smartphone-related rumours and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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