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Apple Limiting Alternative App Stores and Payments to EU Due to Malware, Fraud and Scam Risks
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Apple can take whatever cut they want in their App Store, it's their good right (imo at least). But there is no real competition if others can't have their own which does not depend on Apple enabling it but actually them actively blocking it.
You tell me that me saying Apple doesn't care about its customers privacy is baseless (while I provided links of both their incompetence and they intentional violation of said privacy), yet you throw the same at the EU without even providing proof of the EU not caring. Tell me how that is supposed to make sense.
I'm biased, but as someone who has played quite a bit of Fortnite, it's better to not play it.
The fact that Apps - even if downloaded through other marketplaces - will still be notarised and reviewed by Apple is great news for you then, isn't it?
Business is when you offer services and then get paid for it.
What Apple does — whole idea of taxing everything (like Spotify or indie devs) with up to 30%, while neither customers nor service providers are ok with paying that — is called fraud.
The EU forced Visa and Mastercard's interchange down to something like 0.2% (no matter if the card's inserted or tapped). And Apple definitely charges banks much less for Apple Pay in the EU than the 0.15% they supposedly charge banks in the US.
Meanwhile, I wouldn't be surprised if nearly every store and restaurant in the US eventually just slaps a 3% card fee on every purchase as a matter of course. They've hated the card networks for quite a while now for multiple reasons (the big one being that they pay a hell of a lot more to run cards than almost anywhere else for what they feel is of minimal benefit). Unfortunately I don't think this will trigger any government regulation of those fees or otherwise force them to go down (as I'm sure most customers will just pay the card fee anyway rather than using cash or maybe debit*).
* Most stores that already charge extra really don't care whether you used a debit or credit card even if they're not supposed to charge extra for the former.
I think this is a testiment to how extensive that notarization process is, same with the review.
I'd not call it fraud - they're providing what they're claiming.
The term "tax" seems very appropriate though (which is also unilaterally set by most governments).
You folks going on about “Apples rigorous testing” and the “quality assurance” provided by Apple, are frankly hilarious.
Apple provides neither.
They simply steal an outsized portion of developer money due to an iOS app distribution monopoly
Hopefully this is the start of that finally, correctly, ending.
Apple provides neither.
They simply steal an outsized portion of developer money due to an iOS app distribution monopoly
Hopefully this is the start of that finally, correctly, ending.
TBF, they did the QA part at the time when a single app's first submission was $100, but that is history now. All they retained were the words.
It has been hinted at many places and even spoken about under anonymity that they have been downsizing QA departments across the board.
Groceries are sold in competitive markets.
The grocery store will set their mark-up according to market conditions - not unilaterally impose it on suppliers.
Or apple has more high value targets that make the $$ per minute invested in criminal schemes more worth it.
It's only a matter of time before the US pushes for this.
Mobile app stores aren't grocery stores (or brick & mortar stores).
There's no such convergence on two stores as there is on mobile app stores.
And there certainly is no duopoly of two platforms (Android & iOS) on which such stores can be built.
If Apple aren't imposing their commission rates on developers, they'd have changed over the last fifteen years (which, at least for the biggest developers - that would have the most negotiating power, if it were a competitive market - they haven't).
It’s not. Scam farms have VERY deep pockets and already have scripts in place. All they needed was a naive public to serve as their willing mouthpiece. The vast majority of folks won’t download from outside the App Store for any reason. However, someone’s elderly relative will get a call one day from a helpful Apple representative letting them know that there are 40 viruses on their phone, but they’ll gladly remove all of them if they just download this app…
Fair, for now. Over the next year, we'll see how all the theory regarding malware, fragmentation, and other concerns play out.
I, for one, am very hyped about the possibility of getting to work with custom app stores in the future if I decide for myself it makes sense for the project and its users. Notarization seems like a sweet spot between complete centralization, and worrying about if grandma will allow random things from some script kiddie to execute.
I, for one, am very hyped about the possibility of getting to work with custom app stores in the future if I decide for myself it makes sense for the project and its users. Notarization seems like a sweet spot between complete centralization, and worrying about if grandma will allow random things from some script kiddie to execute.
Sorry .. what ? What do you Kiwi's pay a 1.5% premium for? Here in Canada, most businesses charge at the same regardless of payment method (at least in retail). Do you pay 1.5% to use a Visa versus Bank Card or just for the privilege of tapping. I tap my card or phone anywhere I go without consequence.
They can do whatever they want in their App Store, but not outside of it.
They won't even have to do sth of that complexity. Aunt Petunia will receive an SMS posing as Apple, to please head to this official Apple website with an overabundance of grammar issues and "log in" with her credentials, and she will happily go down that route.
I have someone telling me in another thread that they have never bought anything they saw in an add. Far too many people are oblivious, the just click to make message go away.
No one in their right mind will go through all the hassle of learning to code iOS apps, pay the $99 dev fee, get notarized and hope to get exposure for said app to be temporarily downloaded before being blocked, while same said person can just write a quick script or website, or spam some random leaked phone numbers with SMS' and get so much more data and value.
If the legislation was written in such a way that the goal was reducing the cost to the consumer we would be having a different conversation. Instead the EU has written the legislation to benefit corporations in the EU exclusively. That is their right and their duty to their citizens. Those of us "defending" Apple are simply arguing that these regulations have very little to do with protecting the consumer and everything with protecting self interests (whether they be Apple, Corporations or the 1% of Developers who actually pay more that 15% App Store Commissions).
I benefit from having no more censorship from Apple, so no, it is not exclusively about corporations.
I guess that means that there are far more people that our out of if that you assume.
In 2022 alone this resulted in 428,000 Developer accounts blocked by Apple
App Store stopped more than $2 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2022
Believe what you like but if even 20 % of this was true, this means that 100K tried in 2022 alone and got caught.