Bart Yee on Apple's contempt in Epic case goes to the Supreme Court - 'Here’s my conversation with Gemini, prompts used and responses: Prompt: “what was the actual language of the apple epic ruling in california” “Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple’s anti-steering policies violated California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL) by limiting consumer choice. The September 2021 injunction permanently prohibits Apple from restricting developers from including buttons, external links, or calls to action to alternative purchasing methods. Specifically, the court ordered that Apple cannot restrict the “style, language, formatting, quantity, flow or placement of links for purchases outside an app,” or similar calls to action. Following initial efforts to circumvent the ruling, the court found Apple in civil contempt for violating the injunction’s text, confirming that restricting the design or language of external links is prohibited. These contempt findings are currently under appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. For the full legal documentation, you can review the U.S. District Court Judgment or the FindLaw Caselaw.“ Prompt: “did the contempt ruling have anything to do with the commission Apple is entitled to or how much?” “Yes, Apple’s commission rate was the primary reason the company was held in contempt. When Apple updated its policies to comply with the original 2021 anti-steering injunction, it began allowing external links but simultaneously imposed a 27% commission on any purchases made through those links within seven days. The contempt ruling directly addressed the amount and intent of this fee through several key legal conclusions: 1. The 27% Fee Evasion Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that the 27% fee was a bad-faith workaround designed to make alternative payment methods “not economically viable” for developers. Because Apple’s standard App Store commission is 30%, developers saving a mere 3% had no real incentive to set up external payment systems. The court noted that not a single developer implemented external links during the initial compliance period, proving the fee had a “prohibitive effect” that nullified the original injunction. 2. Stripping Apple’s Ability to Charge Fees As part of the April 2025 civil contempt order, Judge Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to halt all fees on external purchases, effectively enforcing a zero-commission regime for linked-out transactions. 3. The Ongoing Appeals Court Battle The financial scope of the contempt ruling was slightly modified on appeal: • The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the contempt finding regarding the 27% fee but ruled that Apple should legally be allowed to collect a “reasonable commission” to cover its actual costs for maintaining the ecosystem. • The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review Apple’s appeal. Apple is arguing that because the original 2021 text was entirely silent on commissions, the lower courts acted improperly by holding them in contempt over the “spirit” of the law rather than its literal text. If you would like, I can break down how Apple calculated the 27% fee or provide updates on when the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case.” Continued'
on Apple's contempt in Epic case goes to the Supreme Court - 'I had an extensive conversation with Chatgpt when Apple was found in contempt. How can you contemptuously violate the “spirit” of a ruling when you are complying with the actual language of the ruling, I asked? For one thing, both sides appealed the actual language of the orders. The original appellate decision was based on the actual language. If Epic thought the actual language prohibited what Apple did, Epic either failed to raise the issue, or they lost on that issue, and res judicata prevents them from raising it in a subsequent proceeding.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Almost 72M shares at the close. Just over $308. Love it. Interesting changes in market cap: NVIDIA: 4.719T AAPL: 4.533T GOOG: 4.346T Apple is not that far off from retaking the market cap crown as they approach their all time high. Oracle is about to test their 52 week low. NVIDIA is almost 20% off their high. MSFT is about 30% off their high. SpaceX is about 28% off of their high. Pretty amazing to see billions of dollars sloshing around like this.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'I understand Greg. By the time I got out of bed the selloff had already occurred. I’ve been lazy about getting up before the markets open (6:30AM Pacific time) for some time. I can’t do that anymore, although I think the “irrationalists” have thrown everything they’ve got at us for the rest of this year. Apple’s upcoming GUIDANCE should take care of that.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'So I’m late to the news about AAPL’s monster move up. My takeaway: Seller’s remorse. The drops that started with the WWDC keynote knee-jerk reaction and was compounded after the Cook price hike knee-jerk reaction have finally been recognized as – knee-jerk reactions. Meanwhile, long term Apple investors not only didn’t panic, they joined Apple and bought up that cheap Apple! Thereby decreasing even more the stocks available for trading. Thereby forcing anyone who changed their mind to jump back in and bump the valuation 4% higher in the process – in a single day! Congrats yet again to the Apple longs! And thank you, Apple, for investing back into yourselves and thus setting up this day! It’s going to be a very Happy 4th of July indeed!'
on Wedbush's Daniel Ives has become a merchant bank - '“ … and last year [Ives] started his own colorful clothing line.“ Follow your dream, I suppose, but I’m glad he’s lining up a new day job. Just in case the fashion business is less than a home run.'
on Counterpoint: Apple is snapping up 29% of the foldable screen supply - 'However they fold, will opening and closing be done with one hand (like the snappy and satisfying Motorola Razr), or require two hands and maybe a 90º rotation?'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Apple’s current all-time high of $317.40 was reached on June 8th. I’m liking Wamsi Mohan’s $380 price target at this time.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'IMO, this has less to do with the foldable news and more about better sense prevailing, later than sooner, as usual, about Apple’s price hikes. Not only is it being realized that Apple isn’t the only one raising prices and for good reason but also that a nearly-all majority of people in the ecosystem are NOT going to leave Apple’s products and go elsewhere. OTOH, with it being openly mentioned and demonstrated that Apple devices are much better, faster, and more reliable to handle AI, Wall Street must be waking up to the idea that Apple’s devices might actually sell more than before and the higher prices will only increase revenues and help the company handily beat YOY numbers. Cha-ching!'
on Apple asks its supply chain to crank it up - 'This story is probably the reason for Apple share price action today. As of the time I am writing this, Apple is up about $12. The question is, will there be a negative story planted about something at Apple going into the holiday weekend to try to get the price going in the other direction? Or will they save it for next week?'
on RAMageddon has turned existential for smaller tech - 'A friend hasn’t bought a new printer EVER. He just looks for ‘going out of business’ sales and buys up used printers really cheaply. When the toner runs out, he just looks for another one… Usually he’ll buy 2 or 3 HP at a time… He started doing that with LaserWriters about 40 years ago.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Gregg, never be afraid to take profit. I cashed out a call myself for smaller profit than if I held. But key word is profit'
on Counterpoint: Apple is snapping up 29% of the foldable screen supply - '“I fold like a cheap ****** who got hit in the stomach by a fat guy with sores on his face.” – Joey in the Friends TV show episode ‘The one with all the poker’'
