Apple Says Plan for Nearly 50% Commission on Metaverse Purchases 'Lays Bare Meta's Hypocrisy'

[lordofthereef]

I see the folks defending Apple's cut from their own digital storefront (appstore) and comparing it to brick and mortar stores made it to the chat. Imagine thinking a store like Target charging a 30% markup on a physical good is remotely the same as a digital store doing something similar.

Tim is actually right about this, the problem being Apple almost literally paved the way for these large percentage cuts on digital merch, and people have been defending it with "make your own appstore" remarks since as far back as I can remember. At this point, if the market bares it, competitors are just going to charge what they can. Because honestly, why not? "Make your own social media platform if you don't like it." You allow the precedent to be set and reap what you sow.

 

[ackmondual]

To be honest none of these companies has a single shred of interest in anything except more power and money. In Jobs-era Apple I could almost have believed the products were paramount, but in 2022 we’re rapidly heading toward just deciding which dystopian megacorp is the least creepy. Neither Apple nor Meta deserve any credit for looking after anyone except themselves. Mind you, Zuckerberg is an actual lizard/alien, which kinda complicates the picture somewhat.

I'll see if I have a chance to go through this thread, but I believe now would be people's chance to point out all the hypocrisies of Apple and Tim Cook

 

[groove-agent]

Words cannot describe how much I hate and continue to hate Facebook/ Meta/ !uckerberg. At least Google does shady things in a more professional, transparent way while Facebook continues to look like a bunch of bumbling idiots and sells you out in an obvious way.

 

[sorgo †]

Friends don’t let friends use Facebook.

 

[acorntoy]

Anyone else just wanna smack zuck. What a tool.

This is the first time your feeling this?

 

[Stevez67]

I see the folks defending Apple's cut from their own digital storefront (appstore) and comparing it to brick and mortar stores made it to the chat. Imagine thinking a store like Target charging a 30% markup on a physical good is remotely the same as a digital store doing something similar.

Tim is actually right about this, the problem being Apple almost literally paved the way for these large percentage cuts on digital merch, and people have been defending it with "make your own appstore" remarks since as far back as I can remember. At this point, if the market bares it, competitors are just going to charge what they can. Because honestly, why not? "Make your own social media platform if you don't like it." You allow the precedent to be set and reap what you sow.

For starters, the markup at a brick-and-mortar store is routinely higher than 30%. I'm actually ok with Meta, Apple, Amazon, Epic, and the rest charging "what they can" for the goods and services they provide because I know the alternative is the price and profit being set by governments and that's an evil rabbit hole log-factors deeper than what we currently have.

 

[one more]

You realized that Facebook pointed the finger at Apple first right?

So what, it is just childish in either direction. Both are international businesses with turnovers that are difficult to comprehend, and not five year olds pointing fingers at one another.

We are ultimately free to support a business or not, so can vote with our wallets.

 

[medazinol]

Elon should forget about Twitter and buy Facebook instead and shutdown the servers

 

[turbineseaplane]

“You’re too greedy!”
“No, you’re too greedy!”

Actually you’re both right.

Makes me think of this:

 

[Captain Trips]

Will this 50% commission finally allow people in the Metaverse to have the lower half of their body?

Nope - instead of taking an arm and a leg, Meta/Facebook will take your lower 50% in the Metaverse...

 

[philstubbington]

Apple has responded to Meta's plan to take a nearly 50% commission for digital asset purchases made inside the metaverse after complaining about fees in the App Store, calling the decision hypocritical.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Meta, more commonly known as Facebook, plans to take a steep 47.5% commission for digital asset purchases made inside the so-called "metaverse."

The 47.5% cut includes a 30% hardware fee on top of a 17.5% platform fee. Responding to the plan, Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz told MarketWatch that Facebook is simply being hypocritical and that while it complains about Apple's own platform fees, it wants to charge creators even more.
Facebook and the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have repeatedly called Apple's App Store and the 15% to 30% cut that it takes for in-app purchases anti-competitive and monopolistic.

Zuckerberg in June 2020 said that Facebook would be making paid online events, subscriptions, badges, and other products free for creators until 2023, and after that, Meta would announce a commission that is "less than the 30% that Apple and others take." That lower commission has not yet been announced, and at least in regards to the "metaverse," Zuckerberg's promise for a lower cut than Apple's has already been broken.

Article Link: Apple Says Plan for Nearly 50% Commission on Metaverse Purchases 'Lays Bare Meta's Hypocrisy'

.. and it’s no longer April Fools Day.

 

[nostaws]

Not a fan of Zuckerberg. And Facebook/social media has a corrosive impact on our society.

That being said oculus, virtual/augmented reality has a lot of upside. I’ve seen kids put on an oculus and they can’t stop grinning when their hand runs into tentacles or they are grabbing onto the outside of the international space station as the earth spins by. Some hurdles to figure out for sure. But it’s pretty cool.

 

[ColdShadow]

I hope this Meta thing fails soon,and what a dumb name.

 

[44267547]

It does. They're both guilty.

But we're kind of to blame, honestly. No matter what we say, there are always going to be hundreds of millions of mindless consumers who continue to use Facebook, Instagram, Meta World Peace, or whatever else Zuckerberg runs.

The best decision I’ve ever made, is I’ve never been on any social media platforms ever, and I never will. [But I’m not the ‘norm’ either.]

But to the point, I don’t think it makes it ‘mindless consumers’, I think people have a conscious choice in participating social media and how it benefits their lifestyle and/or workflow. There’s a definitive disparity that you’re not including in your post.

 

[cinder]

Since when does Apple proactively go to the media to complain about a 'competitor'?

I preferred the version of Apple that kept their mouths shut.
However, I do appreciate their efforts on privacy which have the very pleasant side effect of sending Facebook cratering into the ground.

 

[genovelle]

Not really a fair comparison by Cook. This is like charging a fee for selling a skin in Fortnite, versus charging a fee for selling Fortnite itself.

There is no difference. They are both selling a hardware product and supplying an Operating System to run on it and an additional platform to support that hardware. The Platform cost a tremendous amount of money to maintain and advance year after year. Add to that the cost of servicing the developers and the users. If it was easy to succeed everyone would be doing it.

The ones that attempted to beat Apple with a cheaper model on multiple fronts all went out of business or left the market all together. They focused on cheap instead of quality products and couldn’t continue. Ask Microsoft about their attempts at mobile. Both they and Google went cheap with tablets and it was unsustainable.

The same holds true for these platforms. Unless you are doing enough volume it low pricing doesn’t make good business sense. Apple’s model accommodates this. Free apps enhance the value of the store but provide value to those developers in other ways. Paid apps help pay for enhancements and expansions of the platform. For years Apple was reinvesting profits from iOS back into the platform. Now they are able to lower the commissions to 15% the first year on subscriptions and upfront for smaller developers making less than $1,000,000 per year.

Facebook was just dragging into facing reality concerning the cost of developing and managing full scale app platform. The lack of economies of scale means they can’t even match Apple’s fee and remain viable.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Yes, there is hypocrisy — but he should be allowed to charge whatever he wants. Let the market decide. Nobody is being forced to use Meta platforms. If you find value, there should be a cost.

 

[Thehangmn]

I would like to see Apple drop their cut to at max, 20%. I don't care what facebook charges, I'm not gonna buy anything that they make.

 

[sparkinstx]

Zuckerberg: "Anything you can do I can do better." ?

 

[polaris20]

If you think about it, it makes sense. The stuff being sold has no actual value of any kind. Fees represent the bulk of each transaction.

LOL "Digital Assets" - translation "stuff you give real money for, and get nothing of real value in return"

 

[rgwebb]

I see the folks defending Apple's cut from their own digital storefront (appstore) and comparing it to brick and mortar stores made it to the chat. Imagine thinking a store like Target charging a 30% markup on a physical good is remotely the same as a digital store doing something similar.

Tim is actually right about this, the problem being Apple almost literally paved the way for these large percentage cuts on digital merch, and people have been defending it with "make your own appstore" remarks since as far back as I can remember. At this point, if the market bares it, competitors are just going to charge what they can. Because honestly, why not? "Make your own social media platform if you don't like it." You allow the precedent to be set and reap what you sow.

Video game console makers were extracting this sort of rent since the 1980s. Apple is not novel in that regard. Hell, they probably took their cues from Nintendo and others.

 

[amartinez1660]

It’s all fine because I think they will allow sideloading right?
That’s the whole real issue for all the “my freedom to do whatever I want with my device” is.

And it’s also fine because they will allow third party payment methods for those whose whole real issue is “I want to give my credit card to as many agents as possible”, right?

Also, I hope Meta comes up again with a phone and some sort of MetaOS, multiverse or not, I don’t care… to send every complainer their way.

 

[Diablo360]

Definitely won’t be supporting this

 

[Sophaline]

Lmao what an absolute joke. Tim Sweeney and Mark must have each other on speed dial

 

[Takeo Apple]

To be honest none of these companies has a single shred of interest in anything except more power and money. In Jobs-era Apple I could almost have believed the products were paramount, but in 2022 we’re rapidly heading toward just deciding which dystopian megacorp is the least creepy. Neither Apple nor Meta deserve any credit for looking after anyone except themselves. Mind you, Zuckerberg is an actual lizard/alien, which kinda complicates the picture somewhat.

I disagree on this on one point:
Apple makes money with hardware and services, not with your data and ads - and protects privacy as much as possible (my key driver to stay with Apple)

Facebook is the exact opposite.