Apple loses the court battle to Epic Games on a ‘crucial front’

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) can no longer restrict developers to its own ecosystem for payments and communication with customers, a U.S. judge ruled this morning on Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker.

The injunction comes after a 3-week trial in a U.S. District Court before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in May.

Apple’s App Store sales could take a hit

Before Friday’s ruling, developers were bound to use Apple’s proprietary system to collect payments from customers for in-app purchases, with the tech giant snapping an up to 30% commission on it.

Judge Rogers, however, made Apple dissolve such restrictions on Friday, enabling developers to use links within their apps that take customers out of Apple’s ecosystem to subscribe to or purchase digital content.

The verdict also said that Apple can no longer restrict developers from communicating with customers directly, using the contact information obtained when they signed up on the app.

The “Fortnite” creator’s victory could hurt Apple’s App Store sales, which generated roughly $64 billion last year.

The Verge's editor-in-chief sees it as an opportunity for Apple

The Verge’s Nilay Patel sees today’s ruling as a major loss for Apple but said it could also be a “huge opportunity” for the tech giant. On CNBC’s “TechCheck”, he said:

Apple shares are down about 3.5% on Friday, hitting its market cap by roughly $87 billion.