Kalakshar US

Apple is relaxing a key App Store rule that has long been a source of frustration to developers. The iPhone maker will allow U.S. developers to link to outside websites for in-app purchases, according to the company’s updated developer guidelines.

The change comes shortly after the United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal to reconsider a lower court ruling requiring Apple to allow developers to direct customers to alternative payment methods. The change only applies to iOS and iPadOS apps in the U.S. app stores and developers are still required to pay a commission for in-app purchases not made via the App Store.

It seems that Apple will continue to maintain tight control over payments, even under the new rules. According to a support page, developers will need approval from Apple before they can take advantage of the new rule, and app makers will only be permitted to notify users about alternative payment methods in specific ways. For example, the company’s guidelines to developers stipulate that links can only be shown in an app one time, and only in “a single, dedicated location.” App makers are also prohibited from using in-app pop-ups or mentioning outside payments in their App Store listing.

The company is also officially requiring developers to pay it a commission for purchases made outside of its App Store. The commission is set at 12 percent for developers who are part of its small business program, and 27 percent for larger developers. But, as 9to5Mac points out, the company may have some trouble enforcing those terms. In court documents, the company argued that it would be “exceedingly difficult and, in many cases, impossible” to collect the fees.

Still, the change is a significant concession for Apple, which has long been criticized for developers for App Store rules sometimes viewed as draconian and arbitrary. The company’s rule barring developers from communicating with users about alternative (and often cheaper) payment methods was a central aspect of the Epic v. Apple trial in 2021. The company had previously loosened some of these rules following the trial and a subsequent class-action lawsuit from developers.

Developing…

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-updates-us-app-store-guidelines-allowing-developers-to-link-to-third-party-payments-235836357.html?src=rss 

Days after laying off more than a thousand employees from Pixel, Nest, Fitbit, Google Assistant and core engineering divisions, Google is cutting “hundreds of roles” on its advertising sales team, a company spokesperson told Engadget on Tuesday.

“Every year we go through a rigorous process to structure our team to provide the best service to our Ads customers,” the company said in a statement. “We map customers to the right specialist teams and sales channels to meet their service needs. As part of this, a few hundred roles globally are being eliminated and impacted employees will be able to apply for open roles on the team or elsewhere at Google.”

The spokesperson declined to share information about the exact number of employees impacted by the cuts or where they were located. The news was first reported by Business Insider, which obtained a memo that Google’s chief business officer Philipp Schindler sent staff on Tuesday.

Google’s latest cuts continue the trend of layoffs at tech companies, which shed thousands of jobs in 2023. In the first two weeks of this year, for instance Amazon cut hundreds of workers in video game streaming service Twitch, Prime Video, MGM Studios, and Audible. Discord, Meta, Unity and Duolingo have also let go employees in 2024.

In December, The Information reported that Google was planning to reorganize its ad sales unit, which has more than 30,000 people, in favor of using machine learning to help customers buy more ads on flagship products like Google Search and YouTube, which is how the company makes a bulk of its revenue. Most of the company’s cuts taking place today will focus on ad sales teams selling ads to large businesses.

Meanwhile, the company is reportedly throwing millions of dollars of stock at select researchers at DeepMind, its artificial intelligence unit, to stop them from decamping to rivals like OpenAI.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-laying-off-hundreds-of-workers-who-sell-ads-to-big-businesses-190057680.html?src=rss 

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeals filed by both Apple and Epic Games following a judge’s ruling that Apple must allow developers to offer alternative methods to pay for apps and services other than through the App Store. It did not provide an explanation as to why it refused to review either appeal, but it means the permanent injunction giving developers a way to avoid the 30 percent cut Apple takes will remain in place.

Apple made the appeal to the high court back in September of last year, requesting it review the circuit court’s decision it deemed “unconstitutional.” The case brought forward by Epic Games is the first to challenge the business model of the App store, which helps Apple rake in billions. In May 2023, Apple said that developers generated about $1 trillion in total billings through the App Store in 2022. Gaming apps sold on the App Store generate an estimated $100 billion in revenue each year.

While the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Epic’s appeal that Apple has indeed broken California’s Unfair Competition law, it rejected Epic’s claim that the App store is a monopoly. In addition to declining to hear Apple’s appeal, SCOTUS also will not review Epic’s appeal that the district court had made “legal errors.”

Epic claimed that Apple violates federal antitrust laws through its business model, however, this is not an issue the high court will consider. The CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, called the appeal denial “a sad outcome” on X.

Epic Games has been front and center in the fight against Apple’s developer transaction fee policy since 2020. Other companies, including Spotify and the New York Times, are also trying to challenge app store policies on Apple and Google platforms. The Coalition for App Fairness, which consists of more than 60 companies now, believes no developers should be required to use the app store exclusively. The Epic lawsuit was just the start — problems have been piling up for Apple. Even the Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly considering filing an antitrust case against it. The DOJ has been conducting an investigation into whether Apple’s App Store practices have killed competition in the space.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/supreme-court-declines-appeals-from-apple-and-epic-games-in-app-store-case-192755323.html?src=rss