Apple has agreed to change some of its App Store practices following a class-action antitrust lawsuit settlement with U.S. developers. 

The tech giant will allow developers to share purchase options with users outside of the iOS app. The changes are a response to Apple’s commission fee that can be as high as 30% on in-app purchases on its App Store. 

Two years ago, app developer Donald Cameron and training company Pure Sweat Basketball sued Apple over its App Store fees, alleging breached antitrust laws.

Though Epic Games v. Apple is separate, it concerns similar territory. 

• Epic circumvented the fees by redirecting in-app purchases on “Fortnite” to itself through a hotfix. The short-lived method led to “Fortnite” being removed from the App Store and is at the heart of the ongoing dispute. 
• The game developer also sued Google for removing “Fortnite” from Google Play after Epic challenged the company’s in-app billing requirements, which are similar to Apple’s policies on the App Store.

Now, Apple will establish a $100 million fund for app developers that pocket $1 million or less in a year — 99% of its U.S. developers.

It will also expand the number of price points available to developers for subscriptions, in-app purchases, and paid apps from less than 100 to more than 500.

Hibbett raised its forecast for the rest of the year on Friday following its second-quarter earnings report.

The athletic fashion retailer recorded $419.3 million in net sales, a 66.1% increase from 2019 but a 5.1% decrease from last year.

Hibbett blew past Wall Street’s estimates of $320.89 million.

President and CEO Mike Longo said that despite supply chain disruptions, the company’s inventory position actually improved, reaching $216.8 million, a 19.1% increase from the same period last year.

The report comes two days after its much larger rival Dick’s Sporting Goods also raised its 2021 forecast. Academy Sports is scheduled to report earnings Sept. 9.

• Dick’s generated $3.27 billion in Q2 revenue.
• Net income for Dick’s reached $495.5 million, up from $276.8 million during the same period last year.

Hibbett has 1,080 stores, opening 11 during the quarter. It also repurchased 989,388 shares of common stock for $83.5 million.

Net sales for the first half of Hibbett’s fiscal year were $926.1 million, well above the $711.4 million for the same period in 2020, and 55.5% over the H1 2019 total of $595.7 million.

Electronic Arts’ popular “NCAA Football” franchise has been dormant for close to a decade, but that’s set to change soon.

EA released new editions of the game each year from 1993 through 2013. The game earned the company around $80 million in annual revenue.

Production stopped following a decision by the NCAA in 2013 to end its licensing agreement with EA due to a lawsuit brought by players demanding compensation for the use of their names and likenesses. 

In February, EA announced plans to revive the franchise.

Now, the gaming company appears to be moving ahead with a new edition titled “EA Sports College Football” that initially will not have player names and likenesses.

• In February, EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company said that the game will include “logos, stadiums, uniforms, gameday traditions,” of over 100 institutions, but won’t have athlete NIL.
• NCAA began allowing players to profit from NIL rights starting in July.
• In August, EA said the game will include technology to “seamlessly integrate” player likenesses once the company has the license to do so.

EA plans to release the game in July 2023. 

The company took in $6.1 billion in the 12 months ending June 30.

More than 3 million people played on a golf course for the first time last year, and active, on-course U.S. golfers increased by 500,000.

But the pandemic has caused a supply chain shortage in a number of industries — and golf isn’t exempt.

• Driving range and club fitting center Granville Golfland has pushed its estimated delivery time for custom-fit golf clubs from 7-10 days to as many as 12 weeks.
• American Golf locations in the United Kingdom have told clients that custom-fit clubs won’t arrive until December.
• Acushnet, Titleist’s parent company, now turns customer orders around in an average of seven weeks, compared to the two business days it took before.

Callaway and Acushnet reported second-quarter earnings earlier this month, with both expecting an “interruption in the supply chain” going forward.

Despite the setbacks, Callaway reported $914 million in second-quarter revenue, and Acushnet’s net sales increased 108.3% year-over-year to $624.9 million.

The U.S. golf industry is worth $84 billion.