Apple can continue being the sole processor of in-app payments on its iOS…at least for now. So says a federal appeals court which has paused an injunction placed by a lower court in a case between the tech giant and Epic Games. 

• “Apple has demonstrated, at minimum, that its appeal raises serious questions on the merits of the district court’s determination,” the ruling says, according to The Verge.

• In September, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers banned Apple from "prohibiting developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing". 

• While Apple hasn't released figures, it's believed its App Store and the cut it receives from in-app purchases has netted the company $22 billion (likely 80% of which was profit) in 2020 alone, says Vox.

The Security Claim

In its appeal, Apple argued that its closed ecosystem is for the benefit of its users. "Our concern is that these changes would have created new privacy and security risks, and disrupted the user experience customers love about the App Store,” a statement from an Apple representative said, reports The Verge. 

The Verdict

Apple is facing one of the strongest challenges to its App Store monopoly ever. However, it's hard to imagine that one of the world's biggest companies is not going to put up a serious fight to protect one of its major profit centers.