Court approves postponement of ruling that Apple must open App Store to third-party service transactions

Apple has recently appealed to the United States Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a prior district court ruling which mandated that the tech giant must permit certain applications to process payments through third-party channels. Earlier, the court had approved a stay of execution of the original decision, thereby allowing Apple to maintain its current transactional modus operandi within the App Store.

Should the court decree compel Apple to allow apps to utilize third-party channels for payments, it would significantly affect Apple’s revenue model, which primarily relies on sharing profits from in-app purchases. Hence, the corporation has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court. Apple’s appointed legal representatives, in their appeal document, have argued that the district court’s ruling has exceeded both the scope of the lawsuit with Epic Games and the court’s jurisdictional authority. Thus, they seek to invalidate the former decision made by the district court through a Supreme Court ruling.

However, the promulgation of new European Union legislation also obligates Apple to permit iOS device users to acquire app content via third-party software markets before 2024. Consequently, even if Apple successfully overturns the previous district court decision through its appeal, it will inevitably have to reconcile with the requirement to modify the App Store’s operational model.

On the other hand, Epic Games has expressed dissatisfaction with the court’s decision and may potentially lodge an appeal against the ruling in the future.