As early as a week, Apple received a bunch of complaints from developers, saying that everyone was tired of paying a 30 percent commission for paying within the application. Even Pavel Durov did not stand aside and urged developers to stop publishing applications on the App Store.
How did it all start?
More than a year ago, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission and accused the Cupertinians of violating the rules of fair competition: developers are required to pay a commission of 30% for all purchases and subscriptions within the application that are made on Apple devices, which means that the developer either doesn’t receive what is earned, or must artificially inflate the price tag on iOS.
And not to say that Apple is very worried – the conditions are only getting worse. For example, if developers offer to subscribe not through Apple, but on their website, then delete them from the store.
Of course, Apple does not suffer from a 30 percent commission, which is why its own services are significantly cheaper than the services of competitors, and even the advertising of “free months” is constantly popping up, and other developers cannot send such notifications.
Didn’t respond to the complaint for more than a year?
Yes, the European Commission has begun to deal only now. The company is also accused of another antitrust case – Apple Pay and the NFC module in iPhone are controlled only by companies, and banks cannot add payment via NFC to their own applications.
Well, the noise was added by Basecamp with the Hey email service, which is available by subscription for $ 99 per year. But here everything is much more interesting: Apple threatened to remove the client from the App Store, if the developers do not add the ability to subscribe via an iOS device.
Hey Email Service Interface
Pavel Durov spoke about this “threat”:
Apple and Google impose an insane 30% tax on all digital goods sold on every smartphone in the world. The result – users pay at higher prices, startups and entire industries are destroyed or never appear. Regulators have been turning a blind eye to this for 10 years.
The solution that would put an end to Apple’s abuse of exclusive power is simple: allow apps to be installed directly or through alternative app stores, and not just through the Apple App Store, which is controlled by Apple.
One of the reasons that I have been using Android for the past few years is the ability to install applications from any source myself. The growth of open ecosystems (Android, Windows, macOS) shows that people are smart and prefer freedom of choice.
Pavel Durov
Head of Telegram
Many developers have expressed support, as well as requesting Apple, that the company review the conditions for publishing applications and subscribing without a 30 percent commission.
Apple answer
Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of global communications, TechCrunch said in a letter to TechCrunch that the company would not change the rules due to complaints, and the Hey email application was published by mistake:
You download the application, and it does not work – this is not what we want to see in the store. That is why Apple requires payment within the application to offer the same functionality as anywhere else.
Phil schiller
Apple Vice President Global Communications
Why was the Hey app published by mistake? It's simple: to use the application, register in it and sign up, you had to use the official website, that is, the user was redirected somewhere. Apple has exceptions when this can be done – if it is a "reading application." This category includes services for reading electronic books, listening to music and watching video content, so you can pay for a conditional Netflix on the official website and everything will work on your smartphone. The mail application is not suitable for this category, so Apple also asks to add payment.
Phil Schiller suggested adding to the Hey developers a free version of the program or the ability to pay inside the application on iOS devices, otherwise the application will simply be deleted from the App Store. The vice president of global communications also emphasized that all published Basecamp applications did not use internal payments, that is, Apple did not receive any deductions.
We are waiting for the results of the investigation of the European Commission. Your bets? What do you think about developer complaints?
. (tagsToTranslate) news (t) app store (t) apple (t) antitrust service (t) complaints (t) response (t) developers (t) investigation
Chief editor of the blog – Erika J. Wells .
