Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 14 May 2019
Apps cost too much? Antitrust lawsuit adds to Apple's woes

By MARK SHERMAN and MI- him," Gorsuch wrote. "Yet
CHAEL LIEDTKE today the court lets a pass-
Associated Press on case proceed."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Con- The ruling threatens to
sumers can pursue a lawsuit throw another monkey
complaining that iPhone wrench in Apple's efforts to
apps cost too much, the increase the revenue gen-
Supreme Court ruled on erated from its app store at
Monday, adding to Apple's a time that its iPhone sales
woes that already include have plunged into their
falling iPhone sales and a deepest slump since that
European investigation. revolutionary product hit
The lawsuit could have ma- the market 12 years ago.
jor implications for the tech To counter the iPhone
giant's handling of the more sales drop, Apple is trying
than 2 million apps in Ap- to make more money from
ple's App Store, where users selling services such as its
get much of the software music subscription service,
for their smartphones. While as well as a forthcoming
most of those apps are free Netflix-like video service
to download, some impose while also taking a cut from
fees for people to use the the subscriptions and other
software and subscribe to In this May 31, 2018, file photo customers enter the Apple store in New York. transactions done on apps
the services. Associated Press downloaded on iPhones
In those cases, Apple and iPads.
charges a commission of from Apple to end the law- Apple says. four conservative justices, The effort has been largely
30%, a practice that the suit at this early stage. The But Kavanaugh made saying that the consumers' successful, helping to trans-
lawsuit contends unfairly decision did not involve the clear that consumers deal complaint against Apple form the Apple services di-
drives up the price for the merits of the suit. with Apple, not software is the kind of case that a vision that includes the app
apps. Justice Brett Kava- Apple argues it's merely a developers. 42-year-old decision, in Il- store into the fastest grow-
naugh wrote the major- pipeline between app de- "The iPhone owners pur- linois Brick Co. v. Illinois, ing part of the company.
ity opinion that agreed the velopers and consumers, chase apps directly from was intended to prevent. Apple's most recent quar-
antitrust lawsuit can move and that iPhone users have the retailer Apple," he said, The court in that case "held ter highlight the ongoing
forward in a lower court. no claims against Apple describing a relationship that an antitrust plaintiff transformation as its servic-
The court's four liberal jus- under antitrust law and a sufficient to allow the law- can't sue a defendant for es division revenue surged
tices joined Kavanaugh, 1977 Supreme Court de- suit to go forward. overcharging someone 16% percent from the pre-
one of President Donald cision. Tens of thousands Justice Neil Gorsuch, else who might (or might vious year to $11.5 billion
Trump's two high court ap- of developers create the Trump's other high court not) have passed on all (or while iPhone sales plunged
pointees, to reject a plea software and set the price, pick, wrote a dissent for some) of the overcharge to 17% to $31 billion.q

Apple revamps TV app for direct subscriptions to channels

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple us- the need to download or ing ones from Oprah Win- add-ons to their regular sub- iPhones, iPads or Apple
ers will be able to subscribe launch a separate app. frey and Steven Spielberg. scriptions, and both have TV, buying subscriptions
to HBO, Showtime and a The new capabilities avail- Those shows will be part of original shows. Apple is try- through Apple will allow us-
handful of other channels able Monday come ahead an Apple TV Plus subscrip- ing to catch up on stream- ers to watch those videos
directly through Apple's of Apple's plan to offer its tion coming later this year ing video to make up for a directly in Apple's app.
new TV app, bypassing own original shows, includ- for a yet-to-be disclosed slowdown in iPhone sales. They'll also be able to
download videos to watch
when there isn't an internet
connection, something not
always available through
the individual apps.
One catch: Subscriptions
through the new Apple TV
app and individual channel
apps are treated separate-
ly. So to get the download
feature, users would need
to cancel their existing HBO
subscription and sign up
again through Apple TV.
Once they do that, they'll
In this March 25, 2019, file photo Peter Stern, Apple Vice Presi- no longer be able to watch
dent of Services, speaks at the Steve Jobs Theater during an through HBO's own app.
event to announce new products in Cupertino, Calif. The new Apple TV app will
Associated Press also incorporate shows and
movies bought through Ap-
price. Although those channels ple's iTunes store and will in-
Hulu and Amazon already are already available as troduce a new section with
offer premium channels as part of individual apps for kid-friendly videos.q