Brazilian regulators have reached a settlement with Apple after a yearslong investigation into the company's App Store fee practices as well as its policies against third-party app stores. As first reported by Brazilian tech site tecnoblog, the nation's Administrative Council of Economic Defense (CADE) said it has accepted Apple's proposed agreement that will address claims of anticompetitive practices. The agreement will allow for third-party payment processing methods for in-app purchases and reins in Apple's anti-steering efforts by allowing links to external websites for transactions.
Since launching Google Play (née Android Market) in 2008, Google has never made a change to the US store that it didn't want to make-until now. Having lost the antitrust case brought by Epic Games, Google has implemented the first phase of changes mandated by the court. Developers operating in the Play Store will have more freedom to direct app users to resources outside the Google bubble. However, Google has not given up hope of reversing its loss before it's forced to make bigger changes.