Mity
macrumors 65816
These tech companies aren't so brave in China. What China says Apple (& Google) do!
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Apple to Cut App Store Developer Fees in China From March 15
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The_Gream
macrumors 6502
I think it is a sound argument.
Prior to Apple’s App Store (well the whole smart phone mobile market), most companies who did digital distribution, ether did so with a publisher via their web site. That meant consumers had to shop all over the place for software. Keep track of multiple accounts, and software keys etc. I lived in those days.
Steam and a few other where already doing the whole ‘Single Shop’ digital store before Apple. Apple’s App Store wasn’t first, but it pretty much set the standard for digital store fronts, through the sheer amount of traffic.
I think people forget, developers were not forced to join the App Store, they had other options, but the App Store was to good to ignore.
Web apps anyone?
There is no flip side. Apple is the platform holder, whatever they charge the developers gets passed down to the consumers that is how it works. The developers do not eat the cost they simply pass it down. When the US government decided to increase Tariff, consumers paid that price not the manufacturers or retailers or the corporations, they simply passed down the cost to consumers. So this whatabout publisher make no sense when in the end whatever Apple charges them the consumer gets the bill.
I7guy
macrumors Westmere
The_Gream
macrumors 6502
I am not a Chinese politician, so I can only speculate.
Apple, through their subcontractors employees hundreds of thousands if not millions of Chinese laborers. Apple has and probably will continue to invest in the Chinese economy.
3% isn’t, but at the same time is, that (it’s the volume) much. 3% is the processor fee in most cases.
I see it more of a small political play, to keep more Chinese money in China, vs Apple being able to move it somewhere else. Plus there is that over sized toddler to worry about.
How many billions does Apple make in the Chinese market? I am sure most of the apps in China’s App Store are from China. This gives them more money locally, which gives them more money to spend, locally.
(My math is questionable)
1000000000*3%=30,000,000. Some Chinese influencer highlights how they could eat out, 3 meals plus snacks, on 10 USD.
there are a ton of moving parts going on, and currently China’s economy is in a downward trend and has been for a number of years.
So, imho, getting an extra 3% from one of your largest digital markets is better than trying to get an extra 5-10% and watching that company shift even more production out of country. Making your already worsening economy worse.
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It is possible china just got to the point. We want lower fees. And didn't try to morph it into Gatekeeping and you're not open enough for others to compete BS. It's only been about the money, and Apple in the minds of the EU commission. Think they make too much. But instead of asking "Hey can you lower your fees? We would like to see these companies make a bit more money to keep them going". They instead twisted themselves into knots trying to come up with rules that make no sense and full well knew Apple would not want to comply with.
Which is what I said a long time ago. Just tax them. Use that to fund the R&D or tax breaks for devs to create another option within the EU.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
Like clockwork, I knew we would get some new App Store related content to get us off of the Gimpbook for a while.
Love it!
Welcome back everyone!
Love it!
Welcome back everyone!
To be "further" fair. Now that data centers are making RAM, CPU, and storage prices increase. Shouldn't the fee that Apple charges go up too? I mean they are paying more these days for that data center to make those transactions happen. Just saying...
Less drama is better for everyone. Everyone saves face. Unlike the EU that wants to embarrass you into doing what they want. Then punish you for even trying to use the law to protect yourself. All in the hopes of you either submitting and doing as they say so they can move the goal posts again. Or, they get a quick bite of the Apple cash.
At least they are still taking about what the issue is. Which is the fee. Not BS'ing about everything else.
szw-mapple fan
macrumors 68040
I didn't realize Japan was considered an authoritarian regime.
I cannot find anything in the article on iPhone mirroring … it appears to be just about changes in the app fee program in China.
China good boy, EU bad boy? The irony of that is killing me.
Yes absolutely. It just goes to show that Apple push back where they can as much as they can opportunistically without having any values of their own besides fiscal self-interest. Which in turn makes siding with Apple on anything deeply ironic.
It seems sensible to directly tax app store commission, but I suspect there is a reason why the idea is very controversial and does not have wide support. There is also the issue of distribution. How do you make sure that the funds end up in the right hands and don't just flow back into the regular state budgets. It should be a measure of last resort used only when other mechanisms fail.
I7guy
macrumors Westmere
If say, they wanted Apple to lower the price of the commission from 30 to 15% (again they are not picking a number, but just for illustration). They could tax the commission on anything Apple charges at 30%. 50% of that. So if Apple got 30% of $1 or 1euro. That's 30c. The tax would be 50% of that. So 15c. Treat the tax as Apple treats the commission. And for every point Apple lowers it, the tax would be lowered as well to compensate til it reached 15%. At which point there is no tax on the fee. A progressive tax from 16% to 30%. Maybe 1% on the 16 to 50% on the 30.
Point being there was another way to skin the cat and actually get the money the EU seems to want. I would think that tax be too high (personally), but in light of their other offerings (10% global turnover). I think this would be way more fair and allow Apple to remain the business they are. Not opening up not, allowing full access to the hardware they created. No free rides, rent free 3rd party stores, etc. The more successful the business is. The more tax is collected. And how they distribute that tax is up to the people of the EU.
And yes, do this for all digital stores on Google, Samsung, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, and anyone else that comes up with it.
Yes, and they run on intel Atom's. A bit overdue for an upgrade. But, they are working on it.
In "this" instance. Sure. If you notice. There isn't a fight. There isn't a back and forth. They agreed, and it's done. Move on.
Short reply:
All true, yes. Because neither China nor Japan asked them to allow 3rd party app stores. Even if, Apple wouldn’t challenge China on that.
At this point, it would be hard to since they already do so for the EU. But the fact they didn't just proves the point (in my opinion). It's just the money.
The most recent app store commissions rate cut apparently is not the end of the story yet. More changes are likely coming.
www.bloomberg.com
China’s Party Paper Urges Apple to Fix ‘Monopolistic’ Policies
Apple Inc. needs to ease app store restrictions and fix “monopolistic” practices, the Chinese ruling party’s flagship newspaper said just days after the iPhone maker agreed to cut local app store fees in a major concession.
www.bloomberg.com