Apple Says App Store Changes and Mobile Gaming Softness Affected Services Revenue

[Abazigal]

Oh no

The unsavory “services” aren’t bilking everyone as much as usual.

It doesn't mean that people are spending less on IAPs; it could simply mean that these companies are able to keep a larger percentage of their earnings.

Which is pretty ironic when you think about it. App Store critics condemn Apple charging developers 30%, but then you realise that the majority of App Store revenue comes from these freemium games (which they hate just as much, if not more), and all they have accomplished is giving these companies more money to continue doing what they do. 😛

 

[Terrinb]

As an AAPL investor I want them to do way better than relying on court rulings and capricious rent seeking rules in the App Store to generate service revenue. These are low hanging targets that exchange brand loyalty for money and don't make customers or developers happy.

How is challenging a lower court relying on something? They are just pointing it out. They also have a good chance of winning.

 

[con2apple]

Apple explaining to nervous investors why their services division only made $30.7 billion dollars is really something.

The goal in today’s religion of capitalism is called “eternal growth”.
It’s as unattainable as the original paradise. But they can’t settle for less, so must always strive for more.

 

[ksec]

Mobile gaming headwinds? So the in app purchase “casinos for kids” addiction is finally flattening a little? Thank goodness.

Apple knows most of its App Store games revenue comes from people addicted to paid game mechanics. It’s no different to slot/poker machine addiction.

A lot of Mobile Gaming are now moving to external credit system where you recharge the game credits on the web but with extra incentive, offering 20 - 50% discount on deals and package.

And Apple isn;t getting any of that revenue cut.

 

[bluecoast]

I think that Apple should put even more ads in the App Store to help.

Let's have 100% ads above the fold on the:

- App Store home page
- Category pages
- Search results

Also I think ads should be in Apple Arcade games.

News subscribers still get ads, so why shouldn't games in Arcade?

Ditto Apple TV - and on the TV hardware screensaver.

In fact, why stop there?

I think that all of Apple's 1st party apps should have ads in them & ads on the phone and iPad lock screens.

/s

 

[Plutonius]

Parents are no longer getting Apple arcade for their kids ?

Maybe, Apple should get serious about gaming.

 

[I7guy]

Oh no

The unsavory “services” aren’t bilking everyone as much as usual.

Wait. I didn’t realize the App Store was critical infrastructure that sustains the very fabric of life. /s

In case the subtlety was missed no one has to interact with the App Store, pay IAP, or even buy an iPhone. Yet Apple is “bilking” people? 🙄

 

[Nekronos]

Apple explaining to nervous investors why their services division only made $30.7 billion dollars is really something.

it's just a number and when those numbers don't meet analyst expectations - that's just how it goes, doesn't matter how big or small the number is as that impacts their forecast models and valuations.

 

[AAPLbuyback]

Apple explaining to nervous investors why their services division only made $30.7 billion dollars is really something.

You don’t know anything about investing if you think “that’s something.”

Companies with big capital have big expectations. Just because $20B is a lot of money doesn’t mean that’s fine if the expectation is $30B.

 

[turbineseaplane]

It seems like they have "won" the capitalism game.

Barring a direction change, growth at this point is basically going to amount to making existing products and services worse with things like ADs, feature prunes, cost increases, etc.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy52]

Most every iPhone user I know has been pulling back on what they spend on their phones. It’s just anecdotal, but if the economy keeps acting the way it has, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are further declines. It probably won’t be anything for a company like Apple to worry about, but it might signal a larger trend.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy52]

Parents are no longer getting Apple arcade for their kids ?

Maybe, Apple should get serious about gaming.

A lot of the kids who loved Sneaky Sasquatch are a lot older now. I literally kept my Apple Arcade sub for years just because my boys loved that game (there were others here and there). Once they became teenagers, though, poor Sasquatch was moved off their devices (and I was able to cancel the sub). That said, I don’t think Apple really cares about gaming and never will (probably to their detriment).

 

[Diopter]

A lot of Mobile Gaming are now moving to external credit system where you recharge the game credits on the web but with extra incentive, offering 20 - 50% discount on deals and package.

And Apple isn;t getting any of that revenue cut.

That… does not make me feel any better about the addictive/gambling nature of such games 😳

 

[turbineseaplane]

That… does not make me feel any better about the addictive/gambling nature of such games 😳

If Apple was really about our "health" and "safety" (or privacy in many cases), they'd outright ban entire categories and styles of games.

The problem is that they enjoy the huge revenues in their role as the "drug dealer" here.

Theoretically their locked down, fully controlled, walled garden iOS App Store should be perfect for disallowing the unsavory business practices and types of software ... if Apple weren't hooked on the drug of the cash geyser coming off the addictionware.

 

[I7guy]

If Apple was really about our "health" and "safety" (or privacy in many cases), they'd outright ban entire categories and styles of games.

Nice whataboutism.

The problem is that they enjoy the huge revenues in their role as the "drug dealer" here.

😳

Theoretically their locked down, fully controlled, walled garden iOS App Store should be perfect for disallowing the unsavory business practices and types of software ...

and that does work like thst most if the time. Not everything is perfect.

if Apple weren't hooked on the drug of the cash geyser coming off the addictionware.

So Apple should just decommission and dismantle their entire infrastructure because some MR poster says so, even though many may just play without being “addicted”?

 

[GrumpyOldGuy52]

So Apple should just decommission and dismantle their entire infrastructure because some MR poster says so, even though many may just play without being “addicted”?

Apple knows it’s a dealer and that the apps in question are drugs. Eventually there’s going to be a lawsuit, akin to the recent social media suits, that targets Apple and Google for knowingly allowing apps that are harmful on their stores. If they don’t start to do things differently, they are going to lose multiple appeals. Just watch.

 

[I7guy]

Apple knows it’s a dealer and that the apps in question are drugs. Eventually there’s going to be a lawsuit, akin to the recent social media suits, that targets Apple and Google for knowingly allowing apps that are harmful on their stores. If they don’t start to do things differently, they are going to lose multiple appeals. Just watch.

As long as the change is applied across the board, fairly and justly. But yeah, you didn’t answer my question, you just went off into another tangent,

 

[GrumpyOldGuy52]

As long as the change is applied across the board, fairly and justly. But yeah, you didn’t answer my question, you just went off into another tangent,

My answer is pretty clear, but okay.

 

[I7guy]

My answer is pretty clear, but okay.

My question was also clear. All games should be dismantled? Fair and just, right.

 

[Shirasaki]

The goal in today’s religion of capitalism is called “eternal growth”.
It’s as unattainable as the original paradise. But they can’t settle for less, so must always strive for more.

At the cost of everything. Literally everything.

 

[platinumaqua]

Looks like people are catching up to the pay to win scam that has proliferated in mobile gaming

 

[Abazigal]

Theoretically their locked down, fully controlled, walled garden iOS App Store should be perfect for disallowing the unsavory business practices and types of software ... if Apple weren't hooked on the drug of the cash geyser coming off the addictionware.

Somehow, I feel that if Apple had done this exact thing and banned the type of games you deemed unsavoury, users would then be here decrying the App Store for being too controlling and not letting them play Candy Crush or Genshin Impact.

Even without the App Store, these gacha games would still exist, and users would still be spending a ton of money on them, with or without Apple's 30% cut.

Given that this is the sort of money we are deal with, I have no qualms about Apple taking 30% or even 50% of IAP revenue, but I guess this is the kind of company we are rooting for now in place of Apple. 😛

 

[artifex]

Fair. I just interpreted that to unscripted speaking stumbles and further elucidating what he meant by mobile gaming headwinds. But I could be wrong. Certainly I can't help you if he meant something else.

-R

That's a good point about stumbles. I forgot that this was live and interactive 🙂

 

[ksec]

That… does not make me feel any better about the addictive/gambling nature of such games 😳

Unfortunately yes. If anything Pay to Win is growing even bigger especially in SEA countries.