Apple iPhone owners can now sue for monopoly abuse if they feel they have been overcharged when buying an app for their phone, after the US Supreme Court sided with consumers in a landmark ruling.
Apple has been in and out of court since 2011 to argue whether it forces them to overpay for apps by effectively killing off competitors on the multi-billion-dollar App Store.
The decision will have consequences for the App Store's entire business model. The software library has become one of the company's fastest-growing and most profitable divisions as demand for its devices plateaus.
Apple shares fell more than 5 per cent in early New York trade after the justices upheld a lower court's ruling from 2018.
Conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court's four liberal justices to rule against Apple. He said: "Leaving consumers at the mercy of monopolistic retailers simply because upstream suppliers could also sue the retailers would directly contradict the long-standing goal of effective private enforcement in antitrust cases."
