Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/05/spotify-too.html
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this was bound to backfire on Apple some day. They should charge a reasonable service for maintaining the store and vetting apps. In the neighborhood of 2-3% like a credit card charge, and be transparent about it - so you see their charge added on top of the app price. Its a reasonable amount to pay for a very small convenience of buying in app instead of on web site.
This 15% - 30% bullshit is just rent seeking from their position of control.
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I often wondered why I couldn’t buy a book directly on my iOS kindle app. Now I know.
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The real bullshit is Apple taking a cut of stuff that doesn’t come from their servers. Stuff like subscriptions and e-books. There’s no good reason Apple should be taking a cut of a Netflix subscription.
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That decision resulted in Google’s loss of $50 million+ in marketplaces fees.
How is it a “loss” if the money was never Google’s in the first place?
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My husband works for Apple, we love Apple products, but sometimes Apple does really stupid things.
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This is a good thing, IMO. The web has been fracturing badly over the last decade as more companies drive their users to their own mobile apps, leading to loss of privacy and control for individual users. Anything that reverses this trend, however marginally, can only be a net positive for all of us.
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They should get something from the processing, as it does take a lot of $ and a security liability to keep a payment system running (as well as losing some fees to Visa/etc. on CC transactions). That number should definitely be considerably lower than 10% though, let alone 15%-30%.
Honestly, if they did something like costs + 1% they’d still be making a killing.
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This is the result of the MPAA and RIAA spending years telling everyone they can that ‘anyone using a service that doesn’t pay them’ is lost profit. When you believe that everything requires you to function - this has gained traction by simple virtue of people trusting official looking propaganda and people in business wear shilling this muck.
I mean - you wouldn’t download a car would you? Well you wouldn’t cheat apple for watching movies on your Iphone right?
Same thing - it’s disgusting when video games do it by the 1 dollar purchase to squeeze all they can from their revenue streams. It’s beyond vulgar when it’s done like this by virtue of abusing your monopoly on the marketplace.
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That’s how I’ve felt all along. I’ve never trusted apps or app stores or software running on my smart phone enough to ever have entered my credit card number into my phone. Or instructed an app to use my app store account to pay for something (is that how it works? I’m not even sure).
If I saw something I liked and wanted to learn more or even buy it, I’d fire up my laptop to check it out, then if I remain interested, I’d buy it there. (In addition: I also prefer to write checks or use cash just to keep the rent seeking credit card companies out the loop as much as possible.)
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I would bet if I could, it’d cost 25% the current price to produce, but we wouldn’t see a dime of that savings.
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BEHOLD!! CARVANA!!
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I may be speaking out of ignorance here, but: If Apple is doing any serious vetting of apps, as they’re accepted into the store but also as they’re updated, that’s going to be a human-intensive, expensive task. I can certainly understand how a developer would want to pay less than 30%. But as an app puchaser, given our modern surveillance-capitalism norms, 30% sounds like a bargain if it really does represent an escape from the all-seeing-eyes.
Each developer pays a couple hundred up front to be part of the program (I suppose large developers can release more). They don’t tell you how long or why it will take them to review your application. Then Apple takes 30% of your revenue for the privilege. Some of the gatekeeping is appreciated, but Apple seems to be describing this as their “service” and primary focus of making profit currently.
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You wouldn’t kill a Bobbie, steal his hat, go to the toilet in it, and then send it to his grieving widow would you? And then steal it again!
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That’s the stupid thing right? Everyone I know would download a car in a hot second if they could get away with it.
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It doesn’t shield you from them though. Apple does vet apps, it’s good at keeping out malware from their store, unlike Google sometimes. But the built in surveillance is a feature and Apple doesn’t care about that.
Question: How can Netflix avoid in-app payments for Apple (and make users pay via Web) when Apple bans in-app payment outside Apple?
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