Apple has been found by a United States federal appeals court to have violated California’s Unfair Competition Law as it prohibited app developers from using alternative payment methods other than that of the tech giant’s own App Store, which takes a 30% cut on most transactions. While judges in both instances ultimately found that Apple does not have a monopoly over gaming apps, constraints against directing customers to alternative payment methods foster an unfair competitive environment. Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted that Apple “prevailed” broadly, but accepted their one win on Monday.
Positive development for NFT and cryptocurrency builders
Fortunately, the court’s positive decision frees iOS developers to send consumers to the web to do business with them directly there. If left standing, the decision could have myriad benefits for Web3 app developers. Last September, Apple opened its App Store to NFTs—but only to NFTs sold through its own payments system, which takes a significant chunk of most transactions.
The high cost to Web3 developers
Massive commission fees by Apple were met with criticism by the Web3 community. Popular NFT platform OpenSea, for instance, charged a 2.5% commission on NFT sales. That said, many developers can’t contend with Apple’s 30% cut of sales.
A more open environment for NFT
Apple may indeed appeal to the unflattering court judgment. Nonetheless, Monday’s ruling, by opening a means for users to get to sites selling NFT (and all coins that fall under the cryptocurrency category) across the internet and rendering in-app transactions with cryptocurrency permissible, presents a unique challenge to Apple whose policies prohibit similar transactions.
[h/t Andrew Hayward]