A U.S. appeals court halted a court-ordered relaxation of App Store rules – at the last minute, so to speak. The court followed Apple’s reasoning and postponed the implementation of the changes, which were supposed to have taken effect today, for the duration of the proceedings.

In September, a district court’s ruling challenged by Apple in the lawsuit between the corporation and game developer Epic Games had fallen. In the lawsuit, Epic wanted to win the right to operate its own app store on the iPhone, and failed. However, the district court had obliged Apple to also allow alternative payment systems in the app.

In addition, District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple could no longer prohibit developers from alerting users to ways to purchase items more cheaply outside the app store.

Apple’s arguments are being heard

Until now, digital goods, such as virtual items in a game, have only been offered via the App Store and thus processed via Apple’s in-house payment platform. For this, developers such as Epic Games, which developed “Fortnite” among others, have to hand over up to 30 percent of their sales to Apple.

Apple argued that the group offers game developers access to millions of users through the App Store and supports them with tools for programming and a secure payment system. Apple also warned that, from the group’s point of view, some developers interpreted the judge’s decision too generously and also wanted to put entire alternative payment processes behind the links. This could allow malicious developers to misuse user data, while Apple could not prevent this, the objection said.

In reaching its decision, the appeals court was bothered by the district judge’s finding, among other things, that Apple’s business practices did not violate antitrust law but did violate a California law against unfair competition. Apple welcomed the stay. “We are concerned that the changes would have created new privacy and security risks,” a spokesman said.

Soon to be worth more than three trillion?

For Apple, the decision is an important success: the group turned over more than 72 billion US dollars in the App Store last year. According to analysts, it is the decisive profit driver for the company.

Investors also reacted positively to the news from the appeals court: The share gained another 2.3 percent yesterday and was more expensive than ever at 175.08 dollars. The papers of the iPhone provider now only need an increase of around another five percent to break through the three trillion dollar mark in market capitalization.