Apple Offered to Halve App Store Fee to Get Amazon Prime Video on iOS and Apple TV

GeoStructural said:
“Content metadata is shared to Siri”.

There falls all of Apple hypocrisy and “privacy” bullc**p, they collect and analyze your data just like any other company.
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That’s content metadata that is shared, not your personal data.

Without content meta data shared to Siri you wouldn’t be able to say “Siri watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and have it go directly to the show on the Prime Video app.
 
HylianKnight said:
“The reduced ‌App Store‌ fees for Amazon's Prime Video app are actually part of a longstanding policy run by Apple to provide better fees for subscription-based streaming video apps.”
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Apple makes up the rules as it goes. If you’re big and powerful you can get Apple to change their rules for you (see: reader apps). Fine but then don’t claim everyone is treated the same because they’re not.
 
The App store dominates for the same reason Amazon does. Consumer trust. Apple launched the iTunes music store by being a direct competitor to pirated content. Likewise, Amazon made a name by electively not being a neutral merchant on the internet. They both backed their sales and made online shopping feel safe. Before Apple and Amazon their marketplaces where filled with merchants people didn't really trust. A neutral Amazon is just AliExpress.
 
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Business is business.

I'm no supporter of crony capitalism but this kinda stuff happens all the time. It just goes to show us another example of how Apple isn't always on top or doesn't always have the better product.

It reminds me of how Jobs tried to buy DropBox a decade or more ago and offered them chump change.

It's not particularly fair, especially since Bezos/Amazon can afford the 30% but it happens more than we'd ever know.
 
Okay. I'm all for capitalism and the open and free market, and competition breeds better products, and giving one company favorable treatment to entice a deal......

But that 15% for Amazon seems hypocritical, and antithetical to Cook's statement that they treat all developers equally and fairly.

Either Tim should admit thats Apple makes deals with companies to try and get their product on Apple store, and that it's ridiculous for others to whine "tHaT's UnFaIrrrrrrrrrrrrrr".

Or... treat all developers the same and demand 30% cut from Amazon, just like every other developer.


What am I missing? 😂
 
spook said:
pretty standard stuff here whats the big deal.

Builders merchants, if a builder comes if and buys more bricks then anyone else he gets a bigger discount then anyone else, same all over.
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Except there’s a difference in economies of scale between physical goods and digital services. A pretty substantial one, actually.
 
So does the US government charge poor people more tax percentage because they are poor or charge less tax percentage to the rich because the less percentage brings in equal to or more revenue
 
Seems more people commenting here are either 18y olds or don't seem to understand the concept of being anti-competitive, a monopoly. Just because you own the App Store doesn't mean you can do anything you want, crush any business you want, take any amount of money you want. It isn't a jungle.

What Apple is doing here is exactly what happened to Microsoft years ago but seems most people commenting weren't born yet to remember.
 
4jasontv said:
The App store dominates for the same reason Amazon does. Consumer trust. Apple launched the iTunes music store by being a direct competitor to pirated content. Likewise, Amazon made a name by electively not being a neutral merchant on the internet. They both backed their sales and made online shopping feel safe. Before Apple and Amazon their marketplaces where filled with merchants people didn't really trust. A neutral Amazon is just AliExpress.
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You're correct, I am just speaking more to the political nature of this anti-trust investigation. If these entities were not engaged in other bad practices (beyond their anti-competitive behavior), there would be no anti-trust investigation.
 
spook said:
pretty standard stuff here whats the big deal.

Builders merchants, if a builder comes if and buys more bricks then anyone else he gets a bigger discount then anyone else, same all over.
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The big deal is that
1) Amazon is so large, they were able to get Apple to change their app store policy.
2) Apple is willing to treat different publishers differently, despite stating otherwise.
 
Amazon is already being threatened with charges of being a monopoly and requests to break them up. The optics here are not good and that is all that will matter.
 
You actually have 2 things going on here. The obvious one is it’s a discount deal between Apple and Amazon, but in this case, it’s not really the Amazon Video app that has value, it’s the content that Amazon brokered with multiple parties that people want. The app is useless without all the content. This seems more like a “set top box” issue rather than other developers not getting a fare shake. I’m sure if some 2 person developer managed to score that much exclusive, in-demand, streaming content, they could also negotiate better terms with Apple, but that’s not how it works. Just ask any sports fan how hard it can be to watch their team versus 10 years ago. Mega Content deals are a beast of their own and seem more harmful to consumers than this.
 
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gplusplus said:
You’re absolutely right. There was definitely some quid pro quo going on between Amazon and Apple. Amazon took the stance of not allowing streaming boxes that didn’t have Amazon Prime Video to be sold on the Amazon marketplace, then later pointed to Apple and said they’re the ones not allowing it. The truth is that Apple wouldn’t allow it under whatever terms Amazon proposed. Amazon was then able to strong-arm Apple to make an exception to their policies.

The infuriating part is that developers and consumers suffer consequences due to closed-door agreements between giant corporation A and giant corporation B: Apple and Amazon, in this case. If Amazon wanted to be competitive and Apple wouldn’t make an exception to their policy, Amazon would have taken legal action to be able to distribute their software and services to Apple customers independently of the App Store. But instead, Apple squelched the possibility, Amazon wins, and the little people are left at a loss of healthy competition.
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Playing devil's advocate here, if Apple charged everyone 30% this would mean iOS wouldn't have

-Microsoft
-Netflix
-Amazon
-Spotify
-Google
-Hulu
-HBO

These companies pay less than 30% but would developers have an iOS to develop for with an audience worth developing for if these apps looked elsewhere? iOS loses MS Office and Netflix, there goes half of iOS users and therefore developers have no reason to make apps for it and Apple begins a 10 year downward spiral of iOS dying completely.

By making these deals, Apple keeps those companies in the store, enriching the username and making iOS happen for millions of indie developers stuck paying 30%.

I would prefer Apple just drop it to 10% across the board for all developers and be done with it.
 
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