2024-03-12 14:21:56
Strict measures
Apple’s reorganization has attracted increasing pressure from regulators and rival companies. Last week, the company said that it would restore Epic Games’ account, allowing the company that developed the game “Fortnite” to build its own app store in the European Union, which could compete with “Apple.”
The reversal came a day after regulators in Brussels questioned Apple’s decision to ban Epic, and raised the prospect of more fines for the iPhone maker.
The European Union also fined the company €1.8 billion this month for preventing rival music streaming companies from offering cheaper deals. Apple appealed the ruling, and the company explained in a statement that regulators failed to “disclose any reliable evidence that consumers were harmed.”
Read also: The European Union investigates Apple after a complaint from the developer of the game “Fortnite”
Apple took further steps to ensure the App Store complied with European Union rules this year, including restructuring the fees it charges developers. The company also reduced its commission of 30%, to 17%. Instead, it implemented a 3% processing fee for apps that use Apple’s in-store purchase system, and 50 cents per app install for apps that were downloaded more than a million times in a 12-month period.
“EU digital markets law is quite specific, also when it comes to having a fee structure that enables people to actually use these new features,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager told Bloomberg last week.
Apple, along with Meta and TikTok, is fighting its classification as a “controlling company” in the European Union courts. ByteDance Ltd, which owns TikTok, last month lost a court attempt to suspend the EU decision while awaiting appeal, forcing the social media platform, which specializes in the video sharing application, to comply with the new regulations.
#Apple #surrenders #Europe #applications #downloaded #store