Futurum Senior Analyst Olivier Blanchard explains how the much anticipated U.S. District Court ruling in the Epic Games v. Apple case, along with the broader international push to combat potentially anti-competitive mechanisms built into popular operating systems, could fundamentally impact App Store revenue streams for tech giants like Apple and Alphabet’s Google starting this year.
Escalating App Store War Between Apple and Developers Likely to Bleed into Antitrust Probes in US and EU
Apple removes Fortnite, Epic Games’ popular battle royale game, from its App Store, and blocks “rival” game streaming platforms from iOS. Fortnite pretty much immediately filed suit, but there’s much more to unpack in this quest for a piece of the mobile game revenue pie. Note that last year 2.5 billion people played mobile games, propelling mobile game revenues to amount to nearly 75% of all in-app spending. 30% of that revenue is what Apple (and Google) are fighting to capture, at the expense, some would argue, of game developers.
Apple Antitrust Probes Heat up 2020 for the iPhone Giant as it Faces Scrutiny in the EU and US
Unpacking the scrutiny on Apple’s App Store and Apple Pay business practices that have caught the ire of regulators, lawmakers, and other tech companies on both sides of the Atlantic. Of note, a third vulnerability for Apple, and an angle that US courts will be perhaps more eager to tackle than the previous two, is whether or not Apple’s business practices can be shown to have led to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers. This is a core litmus test for antitrust cases in the US, and this point should have Apple attorneys at least a little worried.