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Apple Reinstates Epic Games EU Developer Account, Paving the Way for Alternative App Store
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No, Apple now have Epic exactly where they want them (given the circumstances). Epic know Apple have to problem banning them again. The EU are watching. Epic have to say they won’t break faith in front of the EU. Apple gets their 12% (not too far from 15%), and if Epic don’t do their payments correctly, it’s all in the EUs face, and Epic get the boot (a lesson for all would be defectors)
The DMA is not perfect.
The DMA will not only have upsides but also downsides for consumers (such as market fragmentation).
I have absolutely no problem in admitting that. Never had. Given your many (Dis-) "Like"-Button interactions with my posts, you probably know that I've been one of the more vocal supporters of this law on this forum.
On the flip side, I've rarely (if ever) read a staunch Apple supporter admit that the DMA also has its benefits for consumers.
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Over on daring fireball I think Gruber makes a very good argument that the revoking and reinstating Epic’s Swedish developer account wasn’t some three-dimensional chess move but rather an unforced error on Apple’s part.
Sure but for a $2T company it looks like amateur hour over there. It looks like executives making decisions based on emotions and personal animosity. Perhaps Phil Schiller needs to fully retire and someone not as emotionally involved needs to take over running the App Store.
But what if you want to sell stuff, but Target is gatekeeping all products making them unavailable to buy as a reseller, on Amazon or anywhere else? They can do whatever they want because it's a monopoly. Now the EU comes in and limits the monopoly so you can open your Best Buy store independently.
Right now Apple's plan is to be Target and franchising alternative Target stores under the name Best Buy introducing a so called "competition" to their monopoly.
The argument that you can switch to Android makes Android a monopoly on an open market. Once Alphabet decides to put a tighter leash on Android, what would be anyone's plan? Windows phone? Most devices have independant hardware and software companies so one can't have a monopoly on both. Imagine only being able to use Windows on your own PC killing Linux because no hardware allows installing anything else
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I suspect that the EU sent a letter to Apple asking x some questions anout this issue and as soon as Apple’s lawyers saw it, they advised a climb down.
It's quite difficult for me to walk back a statement that I never made. I never claimed every app from every developer would see a price reduction without Apple's fee. From your own source:
"Five were offered for a lower price on the EGS."
Some devs will lower their price. Some others may simply slow the rate of any price increases because of being able to hold onto more of the income they generate. If my business is instantly generating 30% more income, I'm going to be less inclined to start wondering if I need to increase prices to maintain margins and profitability.
Or... Apple asked for assurances and eventually received them. And Sweeney spun the whole situation in the press. And the EU commissioner acted unprofessionally by echoing his spin before seeking information from Apple.
Haha, Apple’s not playing 3 dimensional chess here. They banned Epic. Epic went public and the EU/EC slapped down Apple. It’s as simple as that.
Bingo. That post was filled to the brim with projection.
You clearly said "Apple's 30% cut is essentially just passed onto consumers." As you've admitted, that's not true only a percentage of developers will pass on a percentage of those savings.
Didn’t Apple put out a press release/statement explaining why Epic was banned? The statement they put out regarding Spotify was clearly written by a pissed off executive (I’m guessing Schiller). I think the App Store needs new leadership. Get some new blood in there not stuck in old ways. Schiller has more money than he’ll ever know what to do with. You’d think at this point he’d want to be off traveling and not fighting with app developers and governments.
Which to my original point, would be pro-consumer, correct? Great, thanks for playing!
John Gruber gets it right.
“But instead Apple played it the worst way possible: They let Epic’s Swedish subsidiary open a new Apple Developer Account, and proceed far enough toward building a games store that Epic announced it, and only then revoked Epic’s developer account, while almost literally justifying it not on the grounds that Epic can’t be trusted because they’re an egregious rule breaker, but instead because Tim Sweeney continued to voice his strident (or if you prefer, colorful) opinions about the App Store being an illegal monopoly. Apple doesn’t revoke developer licenses for criticizing Apple. But a lot of people — including the EC! — now think Apple did just that.
How was a “priority” investigation by the EC not going to happen the way Apple played this? If Apple had just let Epic proceed from the start, they’d have looked magnanimous. They even had Tim Sweeney calling it “a good faith move”. But as it stands, Apple looks bitter, and from the EC’s perspective, in need of close policing.“
daringfireball.net
“But instead Apple played it the worst way possible: They let Epic’s Swedish subsidiary open a new Apple Developer Account, and proceed far enough toward building a games store that Epic announced it, and only then revoked Epic’s developer account, while almost literally justifying it not on the grounds that Epic can’t be trusted because they’re an egregious rule breaker, but instead because Tim Sweeney continued to voice his strident (or if you prefer, colorful) opinions about the App Store being an illegal monopoly. Apple doesn’t revoke developer licenses for criticizing Apple. But a lot of people — including the EC! — now think Apple did just that.
How was a “priority” investigation by the EC not going to happen the way Apple played this? If Apple had just let Epic proceed from the start, they’d have looked magnanimous. They even had Tim Sweeney calling it “a good faith move”. But as it stands, Apple looks bitter, and from the EC’s perspective, in need of close policing.“
Apple Reinstates Epic’s EU Developer Account
If Apple had just let Epic proceed from the start, they’d have looked magnanimous. But as it stands, Apple looks bitter, and from the EC’s perspective, in need of close policing.
daringfireball.net
I'd rather believe an EU commissioner than you on this:
However slow the EU may be in other things, I definitely get the impression they don't want Apple to make a mockery of their DMA.
Sure. I never argued otherwise. My point was only that the 30% isn't necessarily passed on to consumers as you claimed.
My boss purchased a Samsung Flip 4 and Samsung watch. He previously had a iPhone 12 and iWatch 6-7. He didn't lose his life doing so. He did it in a day. Not even, hours.
You have an AppStore (Apple's or soon to be 3rd party if you're in the EU) within the iPhone no?
It's there with your data. I don't understand how my statement is wrong.
This will obviously vary from developer to developer. A giant company such as Epic likely has enough synergies and economies of scale to not necessarily need to pass on Apple's 30% fee. A one-man dev or a small team may not be able to maintain a viable business without passing those costs onto the consumer. Regardless of the existence of the former, the existence of the latter means eliminating Apple's fee will on average be pro-consumer. Particulars aside, it appears you agree with that last statement and that's good enough for me.
Watching from a non-EU country, without any desire to play Fortnite, I don't have any skin in this game. So it's kind of hilarious to watch all the back and forth from people taking sides with this entity or that entity.
The way I look at it, it's entirely possible - even likely? - that Apple, the EU and Epic are all acting in bad faith here, in one way or another. Seeing people pretending that any of the three are pure benevolent angels is just hilarious, and it goes against my experience.
Peace out, all. Go back to arguing.
The way I look at it, it's entirely possible - even likely? - that Apple, the EU and Epic are all acting in bad faith here, in one way or another. Seeing people pretending that any of the three are pure benevolent angels is just hilarious, and it goes against my experience.
Peace out, all. Go back to arguing.
Again, that's not how pricing works. If an app makes the most money at $10 than it will make the most money at $10 no matter what it costs.
For big companies that may be.
Now what happens if pricing the app at $10 when factoring in Apple's fee means going out of business? What about if pricing the app at $10 without Apple's fee means staying in business?