FILE - People try out iPhone products at an Apple Store in Beijing, Sept. 28, 2021. OAKLAND, Calif. —
The tone of the judge’s questions indicated she is concerned Apple’s efforts to comply with her order have been primarily designed to protect the company’s profits instead of making it easier for iPhone users to switch to other in-app payment options, as she intended. Fischer maintained Apple is complying with the judge’s order while still trying to shield iPhone users from bad actors on the internet and enabling the Cupertino, California, company to reap a return on its investments in the app store and other mobile software.
Video game Epic Games cites the muted interest in applying for in-app links to alternative payment options as evidence that Apple was still rigging the system in its favor. Apple’s current alternative payment formula “is guaranteed to continue extracting excessive commissions from developers” while also blocking them from steering consumers to other places where they could buy the same digital services for lower prices, Epic asserted in documents leading up to Wednesday’s hearing.