It seems that Apple’s recently added option for App Store developers to include links to external payment methods isn’t really that appealing. In a hearing Friday as part of its ongoing legal battle with Epic, Apple said only 38 developers had applied to add such links — out of about 65,000. . New guidelines, require developers to get Apple’s approval before adding alternative payment options, and stipulate that they’ll still have to pay a commission fee of up to 27 percent.
The changes were intended to satisfy a 2021 ban order issued by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, but , Epic filed a lawsuit in March calling Apple’s attempted compliance a “fraud.” At this point, Rogers doesn’t seem really impressed either. “It seems to me that the intent was to protect the business model and revenue that you’ve had in the past,” Rogers said of Apple’s settlement during a recent hearing. Bloomberg.
In addition to Apple’s commission, developers also have to factor in payment processing fees, which could result in them paying more overall than before. “You tell me that a thousand people participated [in approving the new fee] and none of them said maybe we should consider the cost [to developers]?” the judge said.
