The Federal Court Of Australia has ruled, in a decision that was released on Tuesday 12 August 2025, that Apple and Google breached section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The court found that Apple and Google misused their market power to stifle competition.
The ruling opens the door to EU-style changes with Apple potentially having to offer alternatives to its App Store. This could include new app stores or the ability to side-load applications directly onto devices. And the decision handed down by Judge Jonathan Beach could lead to class action lawsuits that could lead to developers and consumers reaping compensation.
Epic Games, which brought to case the court, has been fighting Apple and Google in courts all over the world, seeking to break the dominance those platform creators have over application distribution and the collection of revenue from application sales.
Beach’s decision, revealed in a summary of the full 2000 page judgement which has not yet been released, said the way Apple runs the App Store and forcing developers use to its payment platform diminished competition. Apple’s argument, as has been the case in almost every similar case it has faced across the world, is that the measures it takes protect users from potentially unsecured apps. The judge said this didn’t mean Apple’s actions were not anti-competitive.
The fact that Apple has imposed those centralised app distribution system for the purpose of protecting security does not entail that there is not also a substantial anti-competitive purpose involved.
In the short term, we can expect Epic Games’ popular game Fortnite reinstated to the App Store, following a similar case in the United States. Longer term implications are less clear but the door is now opened to alternative app stores. We could see Epic Games launch its own store to distribute games and collect payments, completely bypassing Apple.
When we look at Apple’s recent earnings reports, Services is the company’s fastest growing revenue stream. If Apple is forced into allowing third-parties to launch their own app stores, that revenue line may see a hit. Whether that’s a material change remains to be seen.
If Apple is forced to allow third-party app stores to launch, as they have in the European Union, there will likely be a land grab as multiple software developers launch their own stores. Over time, we will see the market behave as most do when a new opportunity opens. There will be a large number of new entrants which will eventually reduce through attrition and mergers and consolidations. That could lead to a new headache for users as app stores they purchase from pop up and disappear while the market sorts itself out.
Apple’s dominance in app distribution and revenue collection is effectively broken in most of the markets where it operates. A recent ruling in the USA was similar to that in Australia and the EU has been pushing for greater openness with new app stores opening there.
What is clear is that at some point in the not too distant future, Apple will be forced to allow alternate app stores globally. But whether user behaviour is so entrenched that most won’t bother going to alternative app stores will be interesting to see.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.