“Denial is a river that flows by means of Cupertino!,” mentioned Epic Video games CEO Tim Sweeney, a infamous Apple critic who additionally sued the tech large for anticompetitive practices, in a publish on X, weighing in on at present’s information of the European Fee’s historic €1.84 billion wonderful in opposition to the iPhone maker. The EC ruling, which favors Spotify, hinges on Apple’s strategy to its anti-steering clauses that prevented Spotify and different music streamers from directing customers to their web sites.

Referring to Apple’s response to the EC wonderful, which the corporate mentioned it will enchantment, Sweeney writes, “Apple’s bitter griping merely describes their historic, pre-monopoly relationship with app makers: the gadget gives nice APIs, and apps present nice options to draw customers. Everybody earnings collectively.”

In different phrases, Apple’s App Retailer was initially seen as a platform that would assist the tech large promote extra iPhones, as having quick access to standard apps, like Fb — an early App Retailer accomplice — can be a plus for customers. However through the years, as Apple grew its companies enterprise, it pushed app builders to make use of in-app purchases to monetize their apps by means of gross sales of digital items and subscriptions. Because of this, Apple’s curiosity in retaining its lower of those revenues strengthened. Although it made some concessions for small enterprise builders and others, it sees no mannequin for the App Retailer that doesn’t contain a fee construction.

Though Apple did implement an exception to its guidelines in 2022 for “reader” apps, like music streamers, it nonetheless largely controls the method by dictating who can apply for an exception, when it’s granted, how the hyperlinks ought to seem, how they are often marketed within the app, and extra.

Sweeney, undoubtedly, was thrilled with the EU’s resolution, given his personal firm’s struggle in opposition to the tech large over comparable issues.

Epic Video games has lengthy wished a method to distribute its standard sport, Fortnite, to iOS customers with out having to undergo the App Retailer or pay Apple a fee on any in-app purchases. The sport maker sued each Apple and Google for antitrust points relating to how their app shops are run. It gained its battle with Google, which was tried by a jury, however largely misplaced its case in opposition to Apple after the Supreme Court docket declined to weigh in on the decrease court docket’s ruling that discovered Apple was not a monopoly.

Nonetheless, Epic Video games gained on one depend in its court docket battle with Apple, because the district court docket decide in Northern California dominated that app builders ought to have the ability to level their customers to hyperlinks or buttons that linked to their web sites, the place prospects may find out about different methods to pay past Apple’s in-app purchases.

As required by the court docket, Apple mentioned it will allow such hyperlinks, however determined it will nonetheless take a 27% fee on these gross sales — a transfer that Epic dubbed a case of “malicious compliance” and one which Sweeney vowed to struggle.

As we speak, he recommended that the EC’s resolution has relevance to his case within the U.S., because it describes “lawbreaking by Apple.”

“In America, the problem is coming earlier than the District Court docket in Epic v Apple as Epic challenges Apple’s malicious compliance with the court docket’s anti-steering injunction,” Sweeney wrote.

He additionally retweeted a Enterprise Insider piece by Peter Kafka which factors out that the $2 billion wonderful is definitely an $80 billion drawback, as buyers’ reactions to the EU’s resolution tanked Apple’s inventory by as a lot as 3% within the first few hours of buying and selling, equating to some $80 billion in market cap.