CARY – Apple is fighting an anti-trust suit from Cary-based Epic Games in the US as well as Austraila and in a recent filing disclosed that the company’s board has discussed possible monopoly concerns. But on Wednesday the tech giant published a blog post saluting “services entertain, inform, and connect the world in unprecedented year.”
“Now more than ever before, customers around the world have found inspiration and value in the breadth and quality of Apple’s services, which have impacted their lives in big and small ways every day,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, in the blog. “We’re incredibly optimistic about where we’re headed, and we believe that the opportunities for developers and the creative community are endless, as are the positive and meaningful benefits to our customers.”
MacRumors, which tracks all things Apple, “celebrated a number of highlights from its various services in 2020.”
“Apple revealed that developers around the world have now earned more than $200 billion since the App Store was launched in 2008 from digital goods and services. Apple added that App Store customers spent $1.8 billion on digital goods and services over the week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, driven largely by games,” MacRumors noted.
Epic filed suit against Apple over a 30% fee charged for in-app purchases – mostly for its popular Fortnite game – and developed a workaround. Apple countersued and toss Epic out of the app store although some game industry services not tied directly to Fortnite were ordered restored by a judge.
Big Tech firms such as Google and Facebook are under growing government scrutiny. And on Tuesday, CNBC reported that “Apple’s board of directors regularly discusses antitrust risks.”
“The language, which is new in this year’s proxy statement, highlights how regulatory pressure and antitrust issues have become a significant risk for Apple as policymakers increasingly scrutinize big technology companies,” CNBC noted.
The full Apple blog can be read at this site.
