The Brazilian court has issued an order for Apple to open the App Store for developers to add payment methods outside of the In-App system and allow app installation through channels other than the App Store, similar to the European Union countries, within 90 days. This stems back to November last year when the competition watchdog in Brazil found Apple’s behavior towards the App Store anti-competitive, giving Apple a deadline of 20 days to make changes. Apple filed a petition with the court, and the order was eventually revoked due to the short timeframe being deemed unnecessary. However, the court continued to review the case and extended the timeline.
Several companies in Brazil, including major e-commerce site Mercado Libre, Match Group – the owner of Tinder, and the perennial Apple foe, Epic Games, have filed lawsuits against Apple. Apple’s representatives argue that they believe in fair competition, as the app business is already competitive on all fronts. Opening up alternative download channels is seen as impacting security and privacy, and the company intends to appeal the court’s decision.
Source: 9to5Mac
TLDR: The Brazilian court ordered Apple to open up the App Store for developers to add alternative payment methods and allow app installations from non-App Store channels within 90 days. Despite initial pushback and subsequent revocation of the order, the court continues to review the case as several companies in Brazil have filed lawsuits against Apple for anti-competitive practices. Apple plans to appeal the court’s decision.
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