Italian Regulators Investigating Apple and Others Over 'Freemium' App Pricing Model

[nostaws]

I wish Steve jobs was still around steering apple. He's not. He's not coming back. Let him go.

Cook deserves some more time he hasn't been in there very long in the big scheme of things.

Tim Cook really does need to take stock of Apple and ask himself the question in his heart of hearts "what direction would Steve wish to steer the company". Of course this will not and probably cannot happen.

 

[vpndev]

Clueless

I understand that Apple is now owned by investors

Yes. Quite a few of them. Including small investors like me. Maybe you missed the news that the big institutions bailed out a year ago, causing the stock to drop.

but it must be said that the path Apple has embarked upon with an ever growing portfolio of gadgets, consumer nick nacks, and other purely moneymaking ventures ...

Why must that be said? It is stupid and ignores reality. So do not say it, lest you profess yourself stupid.

Tim Cook really does need to take stock of Apple and ask himself the question in his heart of hearts "what direction would Steve wish to steer the company". Of course this will not and probably cannot happen.

On the contrary, I expect that Mr Cook has asked himself this question many times. And neither of us should forget that it was Steve Jobs himself that selected Mr Cook to run Apple during his sickness, before his death. I think that Steve Jobs knew Mr Cook better than either of us ever will.

 

[vpndev]

recent changes

I am not a gamer but have been bugged on several occasion by the "free" app that then bugs you to buy stuff. It is slimy and nasty and I just don't do it. I do buy apps, including some expensive ones, but I do want to know what I'm paying and what I will receive. Fair is fair.

Apple's recent changes [maybe a few months ago- I don't recall exactly] have been helpful. The app page now tells you if there are in-app purchases, and what they are [sometimes a shortened list, which is OK], with prices. I have bought a number of them, often with the all-in-one package of options, because I knew what I was buying.

This lawsuit might have had legs with the previous scenario in the iTunes Store but that was then. With the changes that Apple has made, I don't see a problem.

 

[mojolicious]

This lawsuit might have had legs with the previous scenario in the iTunes Store but that was then. With the changes that Apple has made, I don't see a problem.

I suspect that the WSJ article was simply naming the big players in the (generic) app store market, and the Italians intend to investigate the model as a whole rather than declaring that they're going after company X, Y and Z.

As you say, Apple appears to be in the clear on this one unless there's retrospective action.

I'd imagine that the 'complaints' that the Italian authorities are responding aren't about the freemium model per se, but are instead those regular "I installed a free game to keep my six year old daughter quiet and within an hour she'd spent $2000 buying magic hay for her pet rainbow unicorn" stories.

I don't know if Apple has bolted that particular (rainbow unicorn) stable door as fully as possible: does iOS default to the non-persistent App Store password? Personally I think Apple should suspend further purchases until additional ID has been submitted once (say) $25 – or even a user-configurable amount – has been spent in any one day.

 

[n-evo]

It's not personal. The EU just isn't a good place to innovate or do business, period. There is a reason why there is no European equivalent of Apple, MS, Google, Facebook, Tesla, SpaceX, etc. and never will be.

Shell, BP, Total, Volkswagen, Nestlé, IKEA among many others are doing fine.

 

[inscrewtable]

...snippety snip...

It must be said because greed is not good for Apple, and I think it is to the detriment of the world that Apple ditches their core ideals. But I admit it's not the most pressing of world problems.

 

[justperry]

It's not personal. The EU just isn't a good place to innovate or do business, period. There is a reason why there is no European equivalent of Apple, MS, Google, Facebook, Tesla, SpaceX, etc. and never will be.

Shell, BP, Total, Volkswagen, Nestlé, IKEA among many others are doing fine.

Don't forget Arm, ASML, Philips, Ferrari-Maserati-Austin Martin-Porsche-etc., Unilever...

 

[MikeyMike01]

The European Union is really quite insufferable.

 

[barkmonster]

The European Union is really quite insufferable.

True. Their attempt to economically make a United States of Europe just makes their member countries plagued with bureaucracy and additional expense. Unfortunately for us in the UK, leaving the EU seems to be the main selling point for all the nationalist political groups.

 

[k1121j]

omg really if the people don't want the app delete it it was FREE. I don't understand what leg they have to stand on here. do they want apple to give a refund of their free download lol

 

[Silly John Fatty]

It's not personal. The EU just isn't a good place to innovate or do business, period. There is a reason why there is no European equivalent of Apple, MS, Google, Facebook, Tesla, SpaceX, etc. and never will be.

The EU is probably the best place for exactly this. It is just that Europeans concentrate on things that are not really related to networking or internet and things like these, but more on artistic things.

Who makes the best cars? Who makes the best designer clothes, basically who creates fashion and trends? Who makes the best perfumes? Where do the biggest painters come from? Where do the biggest musicians come from?

You see, everyone contributes something to the world.

I use an iMac, which is American. You use the English language, which is European
I use an iPhone, which is American. And you live in a Western Civilisation, which was born in Europe.

Now it's up to you to decide what has the bigger WOW-factor, a website with letters in the colours of a rainbow or thousands of years of history

And as far as business goes - because this part of my reply was only aimed at your word "innovate" - as far as business goes I can tell you that all of the things I listed above (European cars, fashion & trends, music, culture) get exported to everywhere else in the world.

But where do American cars get exported? Nowhere, they stay in America.
Who watches American movies? Americans.
Who listens to American music? Americans.
Who wears American clothes? Americans.
Who eats American food? Americans.

Don't tell us about innovation and business

 

[Laptopdog78]

Apple clearly lists when apps have in-app purchases available on the product pages. You can't expect them to police game design choices.

Why not?
Apple has built this apple controlled ecosystem for there benifit. I am tied to iTunes, and the App Store, which I actually don't mind at all, but you can't just then say that apple should just let developers destroy the beauty that the App Store once had, with this ever increasing horrible, gready game model.
Well I suppose they can just let it happen, but, it's just not the same now as it once was, and is getting worse.

 

[captain cadet]

It's not personal. The EU just isn't a good place to innovate or do business, period. There is a reason why there is no European equivalent of Apple, MS, Google, Facebook, Tesla, SpaceX, etc. and never will be.

Well let's just say that
The apple A series is all deigned by AMD in the UK
We have our European Space Agency and the UK space agency
Your ford engine would have probobly be built in Wales, and the tools that built your house, your road and so on as JCB is designed, built and tested in the EU
Wasn't for Europe there be no computer or internet - or texting
London has all the big banks
Sir Ive who designs everything at apple is British
And so much more!
So EU does look like a good place to innovate or do buissness

 

[JackieInCo]

The app is free you have it don't you? And it clearly says in all purchases before you click on it and right near the free install button

They do. Any app that offers in app purchases, i avoid. I prefer to pay one price for the app. Luckily there are usually many apps just like the one I am interested in so I can find one that charges just one price.

I did buy two apps that had ONR IAP purchase only. They were free apps that charged $.99 to remove ads. That I can get behind.

 

[MacrumoursUser]

Bags of coins for 44.99 or crate of diamonds for 89.99. To me that says it all.

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The European Union is really quite insufferable.

Especially when they make sense in app purchases is the worst thing Apple has done to it's app store. In scenarios where it could be used properly it almost never is.

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omg really if the people don't want the app delete it it was FREE. I don't understand what leg they have to stand on here. do they want apple to give a refund of their free download lol

It was never free. You were allowed to download, but to really use it you have to buy something (best example is games). Of course i 've see some apps that just ask to remove ads or have some really useful expansions packs for what they are offering, but most of the time it's just an empty shell without those purchases, so it was never free.

 

[Gubbz]

keys, I can see where Proline is coming from and no, I'm not American, the EU is very fragmented, it might be 1 EU, but each member of the EU makes up its own laws, unless you are the UK, then you bend over backwards to do as the EU tells you too, at least that was the case with the previous government. Its this fragmentation that means its Italy having a pop at Apple, not the EU which as far as I can see, it should be the EU, not Italy that raises the issue.

 

[MacrumoursUser]

Most hollywood movies these days are packed with actors from Europe. I'm not even talking about tv shows. Most are british actors.

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keys, I can see where Proline is coming from and no, I'm not American, the EU is very fragmented, it might be 1 EU, but each member of the EU makes up its own laws, unless you are the UK, then you bend over backwards to do as the EU tells you too, at least that was the case with the previous government. Its this fragmentation that means its Italy having a pop at Apple, not the EU which as far as I can see, it should be the EU, not Italy that raises the issue.

Any specific country in the union can questions practices of some company that operates in that country without any need for whole union to do it. Maybe that company is only doing something wrong in that specific country or maybe based on many cultural and other things goverment thinks that it is doing something wrong when other countries don't see anything wrong. I think it's very normal.

I think states operate exactly the same way.

 

[paulsdenton]

They could solve this whole problem by noting prominently that while the app is free it requires purchases to actually be used. Like the NY Times app is free but would be pretty useless without the subscription.

 

[robbyx]

Apple clearly lists when apps have in-app purchases available on the product pages. You can't expect them to police game design choices.

Exactly. How stupid are consumers? It's obvious that an "in app PURCHASE" costs money. What a waste of time. Are people really this incapable of making their own choices? Do we really need our hands held by the big nanny government every step of the way?

 

[MacrumoursUser]

Exactly. How stupid are consumers? It's obvious that an "in app PURCHASE" costs money. What a waste of time. Are people really this incapable of making their own choices? Do we really need our hands held by the big nanny government every step of the way?

Then you wouldnt need manual of a microwave to know that you can't dry cats in it. Oh wait ...

 

[robbyx]

Shell, BP, Total, Volkswagen, Nestlé, IKEA among many others are doing fine.

IKEA is the only real innovator on that list. Otherwise, hmmm, big dirty oil companies and one of the worst big food companies on the planet. I guess VW makes pretty good cars.

 

[aristobrat]

Tim Cook really does need to take stock of Apple and ask himself the question in his heart of hearts "what direction would Steve wish to steer the company". Of course this will not and probably cannot happen.

There are quite a few articles that make mention of Steve absolutely not wanting Tim and the rest of the company to ever think "what would Steve do".

Steve apparently felt that Disney squandered many years after Walt's death, afraid to take action in fear of uncertainty of if Walt would have approved of the action.

 

[gnasher729]

They do. Any app that offers in app purchases, i avoid. I prefer to pay one price for the app. Luckily there are usually many apps just like the one I am interested in so I can find one that charges just one price.

I did buy two apps that had ONR IAP purchase only. They were free apps that charged $.99 to remove ads. That I can get behind.

I have an app for GPS navigation, including all the maps for the UK. For free. They have in-app purchases for traffic news, parking information, and German/French/Italian maps. Can't really see anything wrong with it. And I wouldn't want to have _one_ app price including all of these.

 

[MacrumoursUser]

I have an app for GPS navigation, including all the maps for the UK. For free. They have in-app purchases for traffic news, parking information, and German/French/Italian maps. Can't really see anything wrong with it. And I wouldn't want to have _one_ app price including all of these.

You just gave an example of an app where it's used the way it was intended. Such apps are rare (with a valid reason to have in app purchases). An in app purchase of bag of coins for 50 bucks to complete some goal in a game is not a valid reason.

 

[groovyd]

another case of state saves citizen from themselves... what a wonderful world we live...