Fortnite returns to Apple's Australian app stores after landmark case

The Federal Court has ordered Apple to open up its devices to other app stores, as part of a landmark finding that the tech giant violated Australian competition law.

It's a fundamental shift for an estimated 15 million Australian Apple users, who will soon be able to download apps from the open web as well as rival app stores as a result.

The company has until March 2027 to make the changes, Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach ruled on Thursday.

It's the latest chapter in a six-year anti-trust legal battle between Apple and the game developer behind Fortnite, Epic Games, spanning Europe, UK, the US and Australia.

The long-awaited judgement sets out the consequences of the Federal Court's decision in August last year in which both Apple and Google were found to have misused their market power in how their app stores were run.

Epic Games, and lawyers in a parallel class action, had long alleged Apple and Google were running illegal monopolies, by effectively banning other app stores from their devices and forcing apps to use their payment platform, where they collect between 15 and 30 per cent in fees.

The iPhone maker had cited security and intellectual property concerns in its defence throughout the case.

Now, as a result of yesterday's decision Apple will also have to permit the use of alternative payment methods, as well as allowing alternative app stores.

Consumer advocates are hopeful the changes will result in increased competition and lower prices for millions of Apple users.

In publishing his reasons, Justice Beach said Apple had contravened the Competition and Consumer Act with an "intricate web of terms and technical measures", and ordered the company to pay 85 per cent of Epic Games' legal costs from the months-long trial.

The decision signals the immediate return of one of the world's most popular games, Fortnite, to Apple's Australian app store from today, after a six-year hiatus.

Apple told Reuters it disagreed with many of the court's findings and would seek to challenge ​them.

"We will request a stay and appeal ​the outcome to seek a resolution that respects our ‌intellectual ⁠property and protects the safe, secure experience that consumers and developers expect from the App Store," an Apple spokesperson said.