CARY – Apple must implement changes in its App Store as ruled by a judge in a lawsuit involving Cary-based Epic Games.
But Epic Games is still left out, says the Cary company’s CEO which is fighting Apple legally over such rules.
“Calling Apple’s request for a delay ‘fundamentally flawed,’ Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California warned in her ruling that the company’s strict App Store rules were building toward ‘antitrust conduct,’ The New York Times reported. Rogers had ordered Apple to make changes and Apple appealed, triggering Tuesday’s hearing.
Tim Sweeney, Epic’s CEO and majority owner, tweeted that the ruling helps others – but not Epic.
“Well technically it’s a win for all developers except Epic, because Apple decided to block Fortnite from the app store throughout the entire appeals process, which may last many years,” Sweeney wrote Tuesday night.
The judge had ordered the changes last month.
Apple appeals court injunction in Epic case, could delay app store changes
In an event earlier in the day Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook addressed a number of other issues facing the tech giant, including criticisms that its App Store allows it to act as a gatekeeper between app developers and the millions of customers in the Apple ecosystem. Apple is currently engaged in a legal battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games over its App Store and the commission fees it charges to developers. Apple critics and even some lawmakers have called on the company to allow third-party App Stores, a move sometimes referred to as “sideloading.”
Apple has defended its commissions as consistent with other app stores and that the exclusivity of the App Store on its devices is necessary to ensure security.
“If you want to sideload, you can buy an Android phone,” Cook said, according to a report from CNN.
Cook added that giving iPhone users the option to “sideload” apps from platforms outside the Apple App Store would, from Apple’s point of view, “be like, if I were an automobile manufacturer, telling me not to put airbags and seatbelts in a car. You would just never think about doing this. In today’s time, it’s just too risky… and it wouldn’t be an iPhone if it didn’t maximize security and privacy.”
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