Brazil’s competition authority, known as Cade, has made a significant decision requiring Apple to remove restrictions on how people can make purchases within apps on their devices. According to a report from Reuters, Apple has 20 days to follow this order. If they fail to comply, they could face hefty fines of $43,000 every day.
This ruling comes after a complaint was lodged by a company called Mercado Libre, which operates in the e-commerce space, back in 2022. If you’ve noticed some recent changes happening in app stores around the world, this decision might not come as a surprise.
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Cade has decided that Apple needs to allow app developers the freedom to direct users to their own websites to make subscriptions or digital purchases. Alternatively, Apple could allow these developers to manage the payment processes without having to go through Apple’s own payment systems.
This decision shows that there are increasing challenges to Apple’s tight control over its App Store. Interestingly, Apple is already making some changes in other regions, including Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, where they have started to allow alternative payment methods or links to external websites for app purchases.
However, it’s important to note that many of these situations are still being worked out, as regulators in various places believe Apple needs to make even more changes to give developers and consumers more choices.
