(San Francisco) Apple now allows publishers of mobile applications to contact their users directly and offer them payment methods not controlled by the App Store, a concession announced in August that does not resolve the thorny subject of a real opening of its platform.
The Californian group updated Friday the regulations of its App Store, its essential platform for downloading applications 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.
They can therefore also ask them for basic information, such as their name and email address, “as long as this request remains optional” for the user, specifies the manufacturer of the iPhone.
Apple proposed these changes in late August to end lawsuits against small businesses that design applications.
These will thus be able to bypass Apple’s payment system, and therefore the 15 or 30% commission going to the electronics giant.
But this concession does not satisfy many publishers, especially mobile video games, such as Epic Games.
The studio responsible for the very popular game Fortnite sued the apple brand he accuses of a monopoly. In September, an American judge partially cleared Apple of these accusations while ordering it to no longer impose its payment system within applications.
Both parties appealed. For Epic, the ability to redirect users to a payment method outside of the app isn’t enough: most gamers are happy to be able to pay directly in-game, without leaving it.
Apple is also facing investigations by American and European authorities accusing it of abuse of a dominant position.