Pavel Jelic We are at the beginning of the 35th week of 2020. While in the past weeks, the potential the banning of TikTok in the United States of America, so currently the main topic is the Apple vs. Epic Games. Even in today's IT summary, we will look together at how this whole case progressed during the weekend and today. Next, we'll talk more about how a WordPress app broke App Store rules, and finally, we'll talk more about how the potential ban of the popular social media platform WeChat in the US is shaping up, including on all iPhones. Let's get straight to the point.
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The case of Apple vs. Epic Games continues
A few days ago we you informed about how the game studio Epic Games, which develops the popular game Fortnite, violated the rules of the Apple App Store. In fact, the studio added its own payment method to Fortnite for iOS, from which Apple does not receive a 30% share, as it does from all other purchases in the App Store. Of course, Apple didn't hesitate and promptly removed Fortnite from its app store. After that, the Epic Games studio decided to sue the apple company, due to the abuse of its monopoly position. Gradually, this whole dispute is constantly evolving - one day the situation is like this and the next day it is different. Recently, Apple stated that it plans to cancel the developer account of Epic Games within the App Store on August 28th. This would mean the end of Fortnite on iOS on the one hand, but also the end of the Unreal Engine, on which the games of thousands of different developers are based. According to the latest information, it seems that the CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, has already tried in the past with the management of the apple company to agree on terms that would allow the Epic Games studio and also other developers to get better conditions in the App Store. Apple, of course, rejected this, arguing that it was the same as if a customer bought an iPhone at the Apple Store and didn't pay.
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The world has divided into two groups because of this case - the first supports Apple and the second supports Epic Games. But let's now try to deviate from Fortnite as such for a moment and think about whether Apple is slightly exaggerating by canceling the entire developer account from Epic Games - the aforementioned game studio is behind the game engine Unreal Engine, which uses countless games and innocent developers who with this they can't do much about the situation. This is exactly what other big companies don't like, including Microsoft today. The Unreal Engine also uses the mobile Forza Street, which is available for iPhone and iPad - if the developer profile of Epic Games were to end, this would be one of the many games whose development would end prematurely. However, Apple once again states that the Epic Games studio itself is to blame for everything. It knowingly and purposefully violated the rules of the App Store. On the other hand, it seems that everything depends on the decision of Epic Games and not on Apple. The Apple company would even be happy if it could place Fortnite in the App Store again. All that the Californian giant demands is that Epic Games begin to address this offense, that is, to remove the unauthorized payment method from the game, and therefore to apologize. We will learn more information tomorrow, when another court proceeding is underway, during which this whole situation could possibly be resolved.
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WordPress has violated App Store rules
The Epic Games studio is not the only one that has violated the rules set by the App Store. The second culprit that the apple company stepped on is WordPress for iOS. If you are hearing about WordPress for the first time, then it is an editorial system that is used by more and more websites these days. In addition to its editor system, WordPress also offers special paid plans. However, it should be noted that WordPress was definitely not as guilty as Epic Games. While an unauthorized payment method appeared directly in Fortnite, the WordPress application linked to the website where such a payment method was located. As soon as Apple noticed this, it immediately, as in the case of Fortnite, banned updates to this application until the error is corrected. The WordPress developers therefore had two options – either they will directly add an Apple payment method to the application, from which Apple will have a 30% share, or they will completely remove the link from the application that points to their own payment method. It seems that the 30% apple share is against WordPress, so it decided to remove the link completely. Most of the players would certainly be happy if the Epic Games studio remained exactly the same, which unfortunately did not happen.
WeChat users filed a complaint against Trump
It is a few days ago that Donald Trump, the current president of the United States of America, signed a special document in which there was a ban on any transactions between the US and the Chinese companies ByteDance and Tencent, which are behind the TikTok and WeChat applications, respectively. For now, it is still unclear whether this will lead to a ban on WeChat only in the United States, or if the WeChat ban will affect iPhones worldwide. If there is a second version, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, global sales of iPhones should fall by 25-30%. Of course, the potential ban of the application does not please the users of this platform, who decided not to leave the whole situation alone. A user group from the WeChat Users Alliance has filed a lawsuit against Trump and his staff, alleging unconstitutional behavior and violating free speech. In addition, the ban is said to target mainly Chinese residents living in America, who use WeChat extensively to communicate with other Chinese citizens. We'll see how this situation plays out and whether the ban will be reconsidered.
