(San Francisco) Apple is now letting mobile app publishers contact their users directly and offer payment methods that the App Store doesn’t control, a privilege announced in August that doesn’t solve the thorny issue of truly opening up its platform.
The California group on Friday updated regulations for its App Store, its primary platform for downloading apps on its smartphones and tablets.
Under the new rules, developers can now contact consumers individually, for example by email, to offer to pay for a subscription or other service through their website.
So they can also ask them for basic information, such as the name and email address, “as long as this request remains optional” for the user, as specified by the iPhone manufacturer.
Apple proposed these changes in late August to end lawsuits against small companies that design apps.
These will be able to bypass Apple’s payment system, so 15 or 30% commission will go to the electronics giant.
But this privilege does not satisfy many publishers, especially mobile video games such as Epic Games.
The studio responsible for the very popular game It is an electronic game He sued the Apple brand, accusing it of monopoly. In September, a US judge partially acquitted Apple of these charges while ordering it not to force its payment system on orders.
Both parties appealed. For Epic, the ability to redirect users to an out-of-app payment method isn’t enough: most players are happy to be able to pay directly within the game, without leaving it.
Apple also faces investigations by US and European authorities accusing it of abusing a dominant position.
