FILE – People try out iPhone products at an Apple Store in Beijing, Sept. 28, 2021. A federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether Apple has set up a gauntlet of exasperating hurdles to discourage the use of alternative payment options in iPhone apps, despite a court order seeking to create more ways for consumers to pay for digital services. OAKLAND, Calif.
Gonzalez Rogers was particularly pointed as she grilled Fischer about whether Apple had deliberately made it more cumbersome and confusing for consumers to make digital purchases through alternative services. Toward that end, Apple has introduced a new commission structure ranging from 12% to 27% on digital transactions initiated from within an app and completed on an alternative payment option. After Gonzalez Rogers said it sounded like Apple was still collecting a “windfall,” Fischer said the company expected its effective commission rate on digital transactions processed by alternative payment options to be about 18%.that the company won.
Epic, maker of the popular Fortnite video game, is trying to force Apple to make more sweeping changes to accommodate alternative payment options after it unsuccessfully tried to persuade Gonzalez Rogers that the iPhone app store had turned into a price-gouging monopoly during a 2021 trial.