Even after a week of tweaks to the Apple Inc. App Store, the core fight over the iPhone maker’s market power remains for a federal judge and lawmakers in Brussels and Washington to decide.
The moves so far have appeased some. Japan’s antitrust enforcer will drop its investigation into Apple as part of a deal announced late Wednesday. The company agreed to allow certain types of companies to include links within their apps for the first time to allow users to sign up on websites. The change makes it possible to bypass its payment system and, in turn, Apple’s ability to capture a cut of the revenue. Another proposed deal announced last week to settle a class-action lawsuit by smaller developers would allow apps to communicate with users outside of the app about alternative payment methods for their services.
