The App Store may never be the same.
Today’s ruling from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Epic v. Apple trial mandates that Apple must allow all developers the option to point directly to other payment systems, in addition to Apple’s own in-app purchasing system (IAP). It’s a decision that cuts right to the heart of the roughly $19 billion a year the App Store brings in for Apple, because at the end of the day, the App Store makes most of its money off in-app purchases inside free-to-download games.
It’s not a total sledgehammer to the heart of Apple’s walled garden; the ruling still maintains the App Store as the only place that users can go to to buy or download new apps, and doesn’t challenge Apple’s 30 percent cut of those...
