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I think the genius of this is that Epic might not be that concerned. If they expect to have a sizeable income on purchases made outside of the App Store, then this will give them what they seemed to want: paying less and avoiding Apple's App Store rules. They'll possibly have appeased the loudest voice fighting them while basically preventing true alternatives to the App Store.
 
This explains the tricky position developers like Camera+ (Heavy Plumb Apps) is in.
I expect "Free trial" will go away.
 
If you’re app is free, why the hell would you list it in a side loaded store knowing the fees.

This is a non issue.
I'm a dev and this is what I think.

Why the hell would I go through such a hassle for a free app ? I've got no time to lose, let's just put it on the App Store and be done with it.

And if I get 2M installs per year, I can't believe I'm not monetizing my app.

But basically this whole point from Apple was to find a way to still to push devs to the official App Store.
 
Guess you have to make your app compelling enough that someone would pay a euro for it.
We don't have enough details but this might not even be enough. Suppose you install the same app once every year for 5 years, now you need to charge 5 euros for it... this isn't a sustainable system given what we know right now.
 
Let's hope the EU legislator will let Apple know the hard way they do not like being trolled and 'cleverness'.
It's also a case study for law makers addressing Apple (and other giants) that Apple will always act in bad faith, do whatever they can to undermine whatever new legislation they are against.
 
It cracks me up that "Freemium" apps are the hill that the EU wants to die defending.

As if Apple has a monopoly on Freemium apps, and if the EU doesn't step in to slap Apple down, you'll lose the Freemium model for ever! Oh, the humanity!

As someone above said...if you have 2,000,000 downloads (in the EU ONLY!, meaning you might have 8,000,000 worldwide) and are not monetizing it, that's on you. An App that is monetized even to the tune of 1 euro would be fine. OR, they just stay in the App store and pay nothing, like always.

But in the EU, Freemium junk apps are now the battle hill! Freemiums are akin to healthcare, water, gas, etc.

FREEIUMS OR DIE! Liberte! Egalite! Fraternite!

I can't wait to see the updated version of Les Miserables. Let's call it the January Rebellion.
 
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It cracks me up that "Freemium" apps are the hill that the EU wants to die defending.

As if Apple has a monopoly on Freemium apps, and if the EU doesn't step in to slap Apple down, you'll lose the Freemium model for ever! Oh, the humanity!

As someone above said...if you have 2,000,000 downloads (in the EU ONLY!, meaning you might have 8,000,000 worldwide) and are not monetizing it, that's on you. An App that is monetized even to the tune of 1 euro would be fine. OR, they just stay in the App store and pay nothing, like always.

But in the Eu, Freemium junk apps are now the battle hill! Freemiums are akin to healthcare, water, gas, etc.

FREEIUMS OR DIE! Liberte! Egalite! Fraternite!

I can't wait to see the updated version of Les Miserables.
Yep. The vast majority of freemium apps are crap knockoffs of previous apps and aren't good enough to demand even a 1 euro price. Be a real shame if those died.
 
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If you’re app is free, why the hell would you list it in a side loaded store knowing the fees.

This is a non issue.
It’s an issue.

For example Storz & Bickel developed an app that can control their vaporizers. But Apple doesn’t like vaporizers, even though they are medical.

Now instead of being able to provide a free app for medical users in an alternative store or on their own website, they need to either charge money or face bankruptcy.
 
It’s an issue.

For example Storz & Bickel developed an app that can control their vaporizers. But Apple doesn’t like vaporizers, even though they are medical.

Now instead of being able to provide a free app for medical users in an alternative store or on their own website, they need to either charge money or face bankruptcy.
They can still offer the app for free, it just means that their vaporizer profit is 1/2 euro lower.
 
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That would be laying the precedent that people can just use software developed by others for nothing.

Apple has over 250,000 APIs for developers to use. That represents literally billions of dollars in engineering salaries. Yea *Apple* can afford that, but that creates a huge risk in investing in *new* platforms. The exact opposite that these EU laws are trying to addresss.

What company is going to invest the capital expense in developing SDKs for their products if there’s no ability to offset that cost?
Are you seriously suggesting that the purchase of an Apple device by the end user does not offset the cost?
 
Sometimes I think the outcry is more overblown than the actual issues.

If your app is free now. Make no changes. Simple.
If you want to move away from the AppStore. You PAY after 1 million downloads. If you don't want to pay, don't change.

If you really want to go at it on your own. YOU PAY. Since we are not going to charge you more for things like Xcode. Or developer memberships. You pay per download after 1 million.

If you want your own store and your own payment methods. It's .50 per user install in a calendar year. If your app is that good and goes viral. Maybe you should be charging for the app in the first place? Spotify and Netflix are subscriptions so, they can "pay" it.

Pretty sure (not 100%) that Apple is allowed to collect fees for the system they built. Even "IF" you using your own store and in-app payment system. I'll double check, but I thought that was fully allowed. Or rather would be allowed under EU law. And since Apple had a meeting with the EU leader. I'm sure they went over exactly what this verbage was going to be before sending it out officially. To ensure it's "OK" and above board. Has anyone heard from the EU that this isn't following the letter of the law? Or the "spirit" of it?

EPIC can continue to kick rocks wearing flip-flops all they want.
 
It’s an issue.

For example Storz & Bickel developed an app that can control their vaporizers. But Apple doesn’t like vaporizers, even though they are medical.

Now instead of being able to provide a free app for medical users in an alternative store or on their own website, they need to either charge money or face bankruptcy.
For Medical User? Come on. Look, I've been directly involved in the marijuana decrim and medical marijuana movement, but don't try to pawn Storz & Bickel off as primarily medical devices.

So charge .5 Euro for the App. Geez, they are selling 500 euro vapes. They aren't going to go bankrupt if they charge a tiny fee for their app. Or just raise the price of the 500 euro vape by .5 euro and be done with it. If they are doing more than 1,000,000 downloads in the EU, that would mean they are selling 1,000,000 Vapes at about 500 Euro. But the .5 euro is going to bankrupt them?

Come on.
 
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Hmmm .. so I should be able to bring my famous apple pies to my local grocery store, put them on a shelf, offer them for free and not expect the grocery store to charge me for shelf space? 🤔
Your local grocery store does not have hundreds of millions of customers. And, you, as a famous apple pie producer, have a choice to go to a store with little to no fees. You can even sell it yourself without paying anyone any fee. With Apple, you can't do that.
 
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