Appeals court denies Apple's bid to pause App Store order in yearslong feud against ‘Fortnite' maker
Apple has failed to persuade a US appeals court to pause key parts of a federal judge's order requiring the iPhone maker to immediately open its lucrative App Store to more competition.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected Apple's request to put the provisions on hold as the tech company appeals the judge's order, which came in a long-running antitrust lawsuit brought by 'Fortnite' maker Epic Games.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in April found Apple in contempt of an earlier injunction order she issued in the Epic Games case.
Advertisement
3 A judge rejected Apple's request to pause key parts of a federal judge's order requiring the iPhone maker to immediately open its lucrative App Store to more competition. Apple CEo Tim Cook, above.
AFP via Getty Images
Apple in a statement said it was 'disappointed with the decision not to stay the district court's order, and we'll continue to argue our case during the appeals process.'
The judge on April 30 ordered Apple to end several practices that she said were designed to circumvent the injunction, including a new 27% fee Apple imposed on app developers when its customers complete an app purchase outside the App Store.
Advertisement
The court also prohibited Apple from restricting where developers place links to make purchases outside of an app.
Epic Games founder and chief executive Tim Sweeney said in a post on X after the appeals court ruling that the 'long national nightmare of the Apple tax is ended.'
In its emergency appeal, Apple said the ruling blocked the company from 'exercising control over core aspects of its business operations' and forced it to give free access to its services.
3 'Fortnite' maker Epic Games has said Apple is trying to continue evading competition and collecting fees the judge had barred.
AFP via Getty Images
Advertisement
Epic Games countered that Apple was trying to continue evading competition and collecting fees that the judge had barred.
Apple has faced a 'surge of genuine competition' since Gonzalez Rogers issued her April injunction, as developers updated apps with 'better payment methods, better deals, and better consumer choice,' Epic said.
Epic Games sued Apple in 2020 to loosen its control over transactions in applications that use its iOS operating system and how apps are distributed to consumers.
3 Epic Games sued Apple in 2020 to loosen its control over transactions in applications that use its iOS operating system and how apps are distributed to consumers.
AP
Advertisement
Apple mostly won the case, but Gonzalez Rogers in 2021 said Apple must allow developers to more easily steer consumers to potentially cheaper non-Apple payment options.
Apple defied that court order to maintain a revenue stream worth billions of dollars, Gonzalez Rogers wrote in April.
She also said Apple had misled the court about its efforts to comply with her injunction and referred the company and one of its executives to federal prosecutors for a possible criminal contempt investigation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Android Authority
19 minutes ago
- Android Authority
Google should learn from this rumored Apple Watch app upgrade
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority TL;DR Apple's watchOS 26 could bring third-party widgets to the Control Center on Apple Watches. We really hope Wear OS gains this feature eventually as it would be extremely useful. Apple and Google are both working on their next smartwatch operating system updates, namely watchOS 26 and Wear OS 6 respectively. However, it now sounds like Apple is working on a great feature we'd love to see on Wear OS watches. 9to5Mac reports that watchOS 26 will offer third-party widgets in the Control Center. The outlet adds that this would let users 'surface relevant actions or data' from said apps. That would be major news as the Control Center on Apple Watches only supports first-party toggles like cellular functionality, the flashlight, Wi-Fi, and battery-related info. We really hope Google copies this feature and brings it to Wear OS smartwatches in the future. Android phones have long supported third-party tiles in Quick Settings, allowing users to quickly toggle their VPN service, activate Link to Windows, identify songs, and more. So bringing this feature to smartwatches seems like a logical expansion. It's likely too late for this feature to come to Wear OS 6, but the upcoming update still has some notable improvements. This includes a Material 3 Expressive visual style, up to 10% better battery life, and a much-improved always-on display. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Nvidia Just Became the World's Most Valuable Company. Here's What May Happen Next.
Nvidia, with a market value of $3.444 trillion, topped software giant Microsoft. This happened a week after Nvidia's report of double-digit revenue growth and strong demand for its artificial intelligence chips. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) might be the company everyone's talking about thanks to its dominance in the high-growth area of artificial intelligence (AI), but it remained behind one other tech player, Microsoft, in terms of market value. Until this week. On June 3, Nvidia roared past the software giant to become the world's most valuable company with a market value of $3.444 trillion. Microsoft's market value totaled $3.441 trillion at the close of trading. This happened a week after Nvidia's fiscal 2026 first-quarter earnings report, one that maintained the company's track record of surpassing analysts' estimates and delivering double-digit revenue growth. And even though investors questioned the strength of AI demand and spending in recent months, Nvidia's words -- and comments from its biggest customers -- showed business still is booming. All of this is great news, but can this AI chip powerhouse maintain this position in the market cap top spot? It's important to note that this isn't the first time Nvidia has claimed the title of the world's most valuable company. In fact, just a few months ago, in January, Nvidia's market value surpassed those of Microsoft and smartphone giant Apple. But concerns about technology spending weighed heavily on Nvidia shares in recent months, and that pushed market value lower once again. Now, though, two elements clearly are driving this rebound in the AI giant. First, market sentiment and stock performance have improved in recent weeks on optimism that President Donald Trump's import tariffs won't result in extreme headwinds for corporate earnings. The U.S. struck an initial trade deal with China at lower-than-expected tariff levels and is working on a permanent arrangement. Lower tariffs suggest less strain on companies' budgets and on the consumer's wallet. Second, as mentioned, Nvidia reported strong demand for its latest release, the Blackwell architecture and chip, and noted that customers are rushing to the company for inferencing power. Nvidia's chips -- graphics processing units (GPUs) -- fuel this process that allows large language models to think through problems and generate answers. All of this helped Nvidia report a 69% increase in revenue to $44 billion in the quarter and deliver strong profitability on sales. Even including a charge Nvidia took for canceled sales to China following U.S. export controls, Nvidia's gross margin came in at more than 60%. And excluding the impact of the charge, Nvidia met its forecast of gross margin in the low-70% range. On top of this, forecasts showing the AI market will increase from hundreds of billions of dollars today to trillions of dollars by early next decade suggest there's room for Nvidia and other AI leaders to grow. So, will Nvidia keep its title as the world's biggest company? One potential risk to Nvidia's share price performance -- and market value gains -- is the situation concerning the export of AI chips to China. Today, U.S. restrictions prevent Nvidia from selling its H20 chip -- one that it designed specifically for the Chinese market -- to that country. If Nvidia remains completely blocked from the Chinese market, revenue growth and stock performance could suffer, at least in the short term. But any progress in that area, even small, could act as a catalyst for share gains. Considering all of these elements, the positive and the negative, I think Nvidia may once again remain neck and neck with Microsoft and Apple when it comes to market cap in the months and quarters to come. We might see each of these companies periodically take the top spot. If tariff issues and the China export situation are completely resolved, though, Nvidia could have the advantage. Nvidia's leadership and innovation in the high-growth AI market as well as its double-digit revenue increases quarter after quarter could eventually push it ahead, making it the world's biggest company for the long term. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $656,825!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $865,550!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Nvidia Just Became the World's Most Valuable Company. Here's What May Happen Next. was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
43 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Apple's Growing List of Problems Clouds AI Reboot
It says something about Apple's AAPL -1.08%decrease; red down pointing triangle current status that its trailing position in artificial intelligence isn't the company's biggest problem. It might seem to be next week, though. Investors are glum ahead of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference that kicks off Monday. The stock has slid 20% since the first of the year, which is the worst run the shares have experienced ahead of the company's WWDC event since at least 2010. Apple's big tech peers now use their own annual developer events almost exclusively to tout their progress in AI. But Apple's conference this year is expected to mainly demonstrate how far behind the company is in what is considered a once-in-a-generation technological shift. The Apple Intelligence service introduced at last year's conference is still a work in progress, and the Siri digital assistant is still awaiting a promised AI makeover. That won't be coming next week, at least based on a rare admission Apple made three months ago that its planned Siri upgrade was taking longer than expected. 'Apple will be much more cautious about overpromising and will refrain from showing features that aren't yet ready for prime time,' Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson predicted in a report Thursday. But AI is only one of the significant problems Apple is facing now. Tariffs threaten the profit margins of the company's hardware business. And the president of the U.S. is openly pressuring Apple to effectively undo its two-decade-old business model of exclusively producing its devices overseas. Then there is services, which drive an outsize portion of Apple's bottom line. Legal challenges hang over the fees the company earns from app developers, as well as the payments it receives from Google to make the search engine the default option on Apple's devices. Those fees and payments together comprise a substantial part of Apple's services arm that generates annual gross profit margins of 74%—twice the margins the company's device business commands. 'We caution that Apple has material risks to its revenue growth, margins, and valuation multiple,' Needham analyst Laura Martin wrote in a report on Wednesday, where she downgraded the stock to a 'hold' rating. Against the risk of tariffs, App Store fee reductions and the loss of Google payments, Apple's slow start in AI seems almost a minor worry. The company hasn't been marketing Apple Intelligence as a premium service that would cost users extra—a notable contrast to the approach of Microsoft and Alphabet's GOOGL 0.10%increase; green up pointing triangle Google, which are charging money for most of the generative AI tools sold to their customers. But Apple needs to give customers more reasons to buy its devices, and upgrade them more frequently. Its flagship iPhone business has been in a rut, with revenue growth relatively flat over the past two years and expected to be flat again for the current fiscal year ending in September. The lack of new AI offerings is expected to weigh on the next cycle as well, with Wall Street expecting iPhone revenue growth of only 3% in fiscal 2026, according to FactSet estimates. 'We believe that, for this stock to work, it must have the catalyst of an iPhone replacement cycle, which we do not foresee in the next 12 months,' Needham's Martin wrote in her report. Apple has a lot of very loyal customers—more than 2.35 billion active devices make up its installed base—who won't necessarily bail over a single piece of missing software. But the company that disrupted the smartphone market could be disrupted itself if generative AI creates a new class of devices that obviate the need for a touch screen slab in everyone's pocket. OpenAI just nabbed Jony Ive, the famed Apple designer who crafted the original versions of most of Apple's current product line, as part of an ambition to eventually ship 100 million 'AI companions.' The first devices are expected to come out next year. The famously secretive Apple could very well spring some of its own surprises by then. But it will have to do so while juggling its global supply chain and deftly navigating the legal challenges to its App Store fees and Google payments. Apple isn't even officially a party to the Google case, which might limit its options to shape the outcome. Apple's slow start in AI is a problem, but compared to its other challenges, at least it is more under its control. Write to Dan Gallagher at
