Apple Could Still Push 30% Fee on App Makers After Ruling
- Judge questioned, but didn’t lower iPhone maker’s commission
- Maximizing revenue poses logistical challenges, political risk
Photographer: Chris Delmas/AFP/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Apple Inc. could tell mobile app developers that it still intends to collect a commission of up to 30% despite last week’s court ruling ordering the iPhone maker to let users make payments on the web and questioning whether its much-criticized fee is justified.
The judge’s 185-page decision following a May trial in a lawsuit by Epic Games Inc. left enough wiggle room for Apple to try to keep its App Store revenue stream largely intact, lawyers and analysts say, but doing so poses logistical hurdles and risks political blowback.