I do not think Apple (or any poster on behalf of Apple) needs to justify the 30%. This is their system and devs are free to use their system or not.
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Epic Games Sought Side Deal for Fortnite Prior to Lawsuit, Apple Says in Court Filing [Updated]
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The 30% model is outdated and broken, it will change, hopefully Epic will help towards that, not necessarily having Apple allowing them an alternate app store, but simply lowering the fees, like Apple did 'secretly' with Amazon.
To put things in perspective of why 30% is just wrong at least on some categories like streaming services, I thought this news piece was interesting:
"Disney on Friday announced distribution plans for the hotly anticipated live action remake of "Mulan," saying the VOD release will be available to Disney+ subscribers as an in-app purchase. By making "Mulan" available as an in-app Disney+ "premium" purchase, Disney subjects its film to app store fees, which in Apple's case is 30%."
Compare this to releasing the movie at Movie Theaters:
Theaters receive the remaining approximately 40 percent that does not go back to the studios. Along with their concessions take, this goes to pay all their overhead expenses — employee salaries, rent, maintenance, gum removal expenses, etc. That may sound great, but the profit margin for theaters tends to be around 4 percent — and is in increasing jeopardy from alternate distribution options.
If Mulan made 1 billion in revenue, Apple would get 30% profit for doing almost nothing, because streaming is coming from Disney+'s servers. Compare this to physical Movie theaters which have significant overhead, employee salaries, rent, maintenance, etc, getting only 4% in profit.
The 30% cut is obsolete and will change, period.
To put things in perspective of why 30% is just wrong at least on some categories like streaming services, I thought this news piece was interesting:
"Disney on Friday announced distribution plans for the hotly anticipated live action remake of "Mulan," saying the VOD release will be available to Disney+ subscribers as an in-app purchase. By making "Mulan" available as an in-app Disney+ "premium" purchase, Disney subjects its film to app store fees, which in Apple's case is 30%."
Compare this to releasing the movie at Movie Theaters:
Theaters receive the remaining approximately 40 percent that does not go back to the studios. Along with their concessions take, this goes to pay all their overhead expenses — employee salaries, rent, maintenance, gum removal expenses, etc. That may sound great, but the profit margin for theaters tends to be around 4 percent — and is in increasing jeopardy from alternate distribution options.
If Mulan made 1 billion in revenue, Apple would get 30% profit for doing almost nothing, because streaming is coming from Disney+'s servers. Compare this to physical Movie theaters which have significant overhead, employee salaries, rent, maintenance, etc, getting only 4% in profit.
The 30% cut is obsolete and will change, period.
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They can do whatever they want with their system. The phone is a different matter. It's not their phone, it's my phone. The customer should be able to do with their phone whatever he wants. Government must make sure that's the case. Alternative app stores would make it possible. Apple may charge 30% or 90% fee. That’s their prerogative. Other stores may be able to lower the fees to, say, 10%. Let the customer and the developer choose the store they like more.
You do understand that in exchange for lowering the rate for Amazon, apple got something quite valuable in return, right?
no marketing....your in a appstore with hundreds of millions of users....thats marketing.
if your submitting 5-10 crash repots a day , your doing something wrong...very wrong. are you running it in a hackintosh ?
that 30% fee provides tons of dev support....i use it all the time and its free. you have to read ....someone is not going to build the app for you.
If I had to guess why. It maybe do to how Epic was able to install that additional payment option. So, basically it is a risk or a way to hack the app to enable that feature without Apple knowing of it.
So the next developer may very well try this, and be low enough under the radar that Apple will miss it long enough for the developer to getaway with a sizable amount.
Revenue is something Apple has to report to its shareholders, of which I am one. I like my $2T+ company thank you very much. So, if Epic wants to make more money. Invest in Apple.
I think people should stop saying "almost nothing". That's just ridiculous. Streaming is coming from Apple if you purchase the movie (outside of the Disney+ app). In app purchase comes from Disney+. As Apple has released other movies that didn't make it to the theater. It comes from them. They distribute the Movie, so it's on them. If you also notice. Disney does not offer 4k titles or 4k versions of their movies on Apple. As they want a larger cut, and have yet to make a deal with Apple. And guess what? They didn't whine me a river about it either.
4% for movies at a movie theater seems a bit low. BUT, they make their money in other ways. You can easily spend another $50 on your family of 4 movie night. And in other nice movie places. Well over that for a family night out. So, it's not like they are starving. In this pandemic situation they are, they don't have @$$'s in seats to buy everything they need to sell to make money.
And very sorry to say. I like many others out there. Have nice in house movie systems (Atmos, 65 or larger screens, etc.). Going to a theater is really only for new movies I REALLY want to see. If I can deal with waiting. I'll get it on Netflix DVD and watch it at home. More people are doing this. They only go to the movies for the blockbuster movies. So, if you don't have IMAX, or a huge screen and great sound system. Close by, clean, and not full of crazy people. Also, you need recliners, and maybe even food service to the seat. Assigned seats are a minimum, and if you don't have it. People are going to go way less.
Isn’t it obvious that if they’d gotten their side letter, there would never have been any alternative payment processing?
Just a special deal for Epic, screw every other developer. Who gives a crap about them anyway? Not Epic, that’s for sure; they got their special deal.
That’s the whole point.
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"Streaming is coming from Apple if you purchase the movie" - let them have their fee in this case. This has nothing to do with subscriptions though where streaming is done by Netflix or some other company.I think people should stop saying "almost nothing". That's just ridiculous. Streaming is coming from Apple if you purchase the movie (outside of the Disney+ app). In app purchase comes from Disney+. As Apple has released other movies that didn't make it to the theater. It comes from them. They distribute the Movie, so it's on them. If you also notice. Disney does not offer 4k titles or 4k versions of their movies on Apple. As they want a larger cut, and have yet to make a deal with Apple. And guess what? They didn't whine me a river about it either.
4% for movies at a movie theater seems a bit low. BUT, they make their money in other ways. You can easily spend another $50 on your family of 4 movie night. And in other nice movie places. Well over that for a family night out. So, it's not like they are starving. In this pandemic situation they are, they don't have @$$'s in seats to buy everything they need to sell to make money.
And very sorry to say. I like many others out there. Have nice in house movie systems (Atmos, 65 or larger screens, etc.). Going to a theater is really only for new movies I REALLY want to see. If I can deal with waiting. I'll get it on Netflix DVD and watch it at home. More people are doing this. They only go to the movies for the blockbuster movies. So, if you don't have IMAX, or a huge screen and great sound system. Close by, clean, and not full of crazy people. Also, you need recliners, and maybe even food service to the seat. Assigned seats are a minimum, and if you don't have it. People are going to go way less.
You want to know whats irony is.... the people who’s taking Apples side on this wants socialism in our government lol
All the streaming services, like Netflix, if they offered in-app-purchase, Apple would get 30% cut for nothing, because Netflix streams from their servers, that's why Netflix removed in-app-purchases and now you only have a login on your iPhone, so that you purchase Netflix outside of Apple's app store.
Same with Spotify, it's not fair for Apple to get 30% cut every month, that's why Spotify also dropped in-app purchases. That's what I meant.
The 30% cut for these types of streaming services which are booming now, is unfair, obsolete and inadequate, and in desperate need of revising.
Sounds like something you just made up lol.
You can do whatever you want with the phone, nobody is stopping you. You can break it, take it apart, load android(if you can figure it out). But if you want to use apples software, ie ios, you are bound by the T&C and EULA. You can choose to use the App Store or not, or even not register with an Apple ID.
Like you said it’s your phone, you bought it (received as a gift, financed etc)
You are explaining the status quo which hurts the consumer. Situation will improve when the government intervenes. T&C and EULA should be used to specify the [reasonable] conditions for maintaining the warranty not to limit the competition and hurt the consumer.
The phone is your property - absolutely. The operating system and App Store you licence. You agreed to this the second you turned your phone on and “agreed” to the terms and conditions. You are free to install any OS you want, but Apple isn’t obligated to make it easy for you.
I am a consumer. It is the obligation of the government to protect the consumer. That's what this issue is about. When left to do what it wants business is known to screw up the consumer. Hopefully, government will fix the problem. You post would make sense if Apple let the consumers to install alternative OSes (or at least alternative app stores). They do everything in their power to prevent this from happening.
This is a case with merit:
www.theverge.com
WordPress founder claims Apple cut off updates to his completely free app because it wants 30 percent
Update: WordPress has already caved.
www.theverge.com
Allowing third party app stores does not equate protecting the customer. It’s a right that involves Apple and developers, and is thus beyond the purview of US antitrust law.
When you buy a smart device, say a Samsung TV, is it your expectation you can load whatever operating system on it? Is the consumer hurt by not being able to load any operating system. I say no and apparently since there is no anti-trust actions against smart device vendors, the government agrees, whether you like the status quo or not.
And since Apple has a minority share of the smartphone market, one can buy any other brand they want if they don't like Apple's T&C. I do not think the government will step in to the extent you believe they will, if at all.
Considering Tim Cook just testified, Apple is making a big show here, for reasons only they know.
If you believe the consumer is being hurt, the remedy for that is in the court system. I'll wait for the class action.
This is a case with merit:
WordPress founder claims Apple cut off updates to his completely free app because it wants 30 percent
Update: WordPress has already caved.
Interesting titbit in the comments section.