Gradually, countries around the world are taking steps to change the way Apple’s App Store works. The latest developments are taking place in Brazil, where the antitrust regulator Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica (CADE) issued a kind of ultimatum to Apple on Monday. CADE gave Apple 20 days to make changes that would allow purchases from third-party app developers without going through Apple, or face a fine of 250,000 reais ($43,000) for every day after that. Considering how much money Apple makes on a daily basis, $43,000 could probably be taken out of Tim Cook’s account for Mountain Dew diet soda.
In particular, Apple should take measures such as allowing third-party developers to notify their users of alternative places where their products or services can be purchased, and to include buttons, external links, and other calls to action that show users alternative ways to access their products, not just in the app. Developers will also be able to use other in-app purchasing systems (Apple charges a 30 percent commission when using its system), distribute their apps in places other than the Apple App Store, etc. The decision was made on the basis of a 2022 statement by e-commerce company MercadoLibre, which claimed that Apple was restricting the ways in which it could distribute and purchase goods.
The ruling follows changes made earlier this year to the rules governing Apple’s app store in the European Union. The bloc’s Digital Markets Act forced Apple to allow developers to receive payments and distribute apps outside the App Store. Apple has also faced attempts to change its systems in the United States, notably through a lawsuit filed by Epic Games.
