9to5Mac reported that Apple has changed the rules for the App Store so that developers can connect to outside payment systems. Even if developers use a different payment system, they will still have to pay Apple a fee. A support page about external buy links says that Apple will only take a 27% cut (rather than the usual 30%) or a 13% cut if the developer is in the App Store Small Business Programme.
Apple’s App Store rules now let US makers connect :
More of the new rules for developers who want to link to other payment methods are explained in Section 3.1.1(a) of the App Store Review Guidelines. For example, they have to ask for a “entitlement” to be able to do so. Also, developers can’t just get paid by people outside of Apple’s walled garden; their apps will have to support Apple’s in-app buy system too.
The changes come after the Supreme Court said it would not hear Apple and Epic’s appeals over the Epic Games v. Apple decision, which said Apple had to stop its anti-steering rules.
Epic’s founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney, doesn’t like the changes Apple made to its rules. He calls the 27 percent fee “anticompetitive,” criticizes Apple’s rules for how the links look and how they work, and highlighted what he calls the “scare screen” that users will see when they leave an app to go to an external site.
In his words, Epic “will contest Apple’s bad-faith compliance plan in District Court.” In a new court filing, Apple also explained how it is following the decision. Natalie Munoz, a spokeswoman for Epic, says, “we intend to challenge Apple’s Notice of Compliance at the District Court.”