Apple loosens App Store payment rules for media companies like Netflix, more in Japan

Apple said on Wednesday it would relax its rules app Store Rules that have banned companies such as Netflix From providing customers with a link to create a paid account to bypass Apple’s in-app purchase commissions. This comes as a second concession to regulators and companies in less than a week iPhone Maker faces legal, regulatory and legislative challenges for the App Store, which is the core of its $53.8 billion (about Rs 3.92 lakh crore) services segment.

But Apple will still ban developers from taking other forms of payment inside apps on the iPhone, the main practice that “Fortnite” makers Epic Games, Spotify Technology and Match Group have said they want to end. “One Limited Anti-Steering Fix Doesn’t Solve All Our Issues,” said Spotify, which is pursuing an antitrust complaint Apple with EU competition officials, said in a statement. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, referring to Apple’s operating system, tweeted: “Apple should open iOS Each competes individually on its own merits based on hardware, stores, payments and services. Instead, they are literally recalculating Divide and Win in hopes of doing away with most of their tying practices.”

Apple collects commissions between 15 percent and 30 percent from in-app purchases and erects barriers to prevent developers from driving users toward payment options. One such rule prohibited “reader apps” – where users consume content they have purchased elsewhere – from providing a link to sign up for a paid account. Apple said Wednesday it would drop that rule early next year as part of the conclusion. An investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC). Apple said it agreed with the JFTC to share a link to their websites to the developers of those apps to help users set up and manage their accounts. Although the change is part of an agreement with the JFTC, Apple said it would be implemented globally.

The JFTC said in a media briefing that it has closed a five-year investigation into Apple and that the company’s App Store guideline amendments have ended suspicions of antimonopoly practices. Apple will be able to reject apps it doesn’t consider to be “reader” apps. The games under investigation were not included, it added.

Previously, Apple allowed a link to create an account, but only if creating an account did not involve entering payment information. This means that companies like Netflix, which has no free tier of service and requires payment at sign-up, could not provide a link. But these changes will not apply to gaming companies, which are the biggest category of earners on Apple’s App Store.

Apple said in a statement that reader apps may offer other ways to pay securely because the shows or songs they provide access to are not “in-app digital goods and services.” app” or a game.

Epic Games’ Sweeney, who is making an antitrust claim against Apple in US courts, criticized Apple’s argument, saying on Twitter that “it’s hard to understand the argument that it’s safe while it’s safe.” fortnite Accepting direct payments remains unsafe.”

Last week, Apple struck a deal with a group of developers in the United States in a class-action lawsuit as it awaits a ruling by the same US judge in a separate App Store dispute brought by Epic Games. In that agreement, Apple ended the ban on developers telling users in email messages outside the app about payment options.

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