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Some Developers Say Apple Letting Apps Like Netflix and Spotify Share a Link to Web for Account Sign-Up Isn't Enough

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Apple on Wednesday evening announced that, starting in early 2022, it will allow developers of "reader" apps to include an in-app link to their website for users to set up or manage an account. "Reader" apps allow a user to access previously purchased content or subscription-based content for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video, according to Apple, such as Netflix, Spotify, and the Amazon Kindle app.

app-store-blue-banner.jpg

Following the announcement, some developers have said Apple's decision is not good enough.

For starters, some have criticized Apple's plan to let developers share only "a single link" to their website to help users set up and manage their account. Apple is still considering the types of wording it will let developers use for these links, according to The Irish Independent's Adrian Weckler, but some developers doubt that Apple will let them mention that customers can save money by signing up outside of the app.



Tweetbot co-creator Paul Haddad expressed disappointment that smaller developers "now have to subsidize all these big publishers" given that Apple's in-app link allowance will be limited to "reader" apps, many of which are owned by large companies.


Other developers and critics have expressed that Apple is doing the "minimum" possible to address longstanding App Store antitrust concerns. At the center of the concerns is Apple's 15% to 30% commission on in-app purchases of digital goods and the inability for developers to offer their own payment methods through the App Store.



Apple said its decision to allow "reader" apps to include an in-app link to their website for account management closes an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission over suspected violation of Japan's Antimonopoly Act, although Apple said the change will apply globally.

Apple's announcement about "reader" apps came less than a week after the company reached a $100 million settlement that, pending court approval, will resolve a class action lawsuit from U.S. developers who alleged that Apple has a monopoly on the distribution of iOS apps and in-app purchases. Apple said it will be making a few App Store changes as part of that settlement, such as letting developers email customers about payment options outside of their iOS app, but some developers were likewise not impressed with the concessions.

Article Link: Some Developers Say Apple Letting Apps Like Netflix and Spotify Share a Link to Web for Account Sign-Up Isn't Enough
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/09/02/developer-reaction-to-apple-reader-app-change/
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It's not enough and it's infuriating that they are determined to do endless tiny little breadcrumb sized baby steps to avoid legal problems.

Apple should be leading on this and making big sweeping changes and fixing the issues and the narrative here.

I'm so totally disappointed in Apple leadership of late.

The magic is gone from this company.
 
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Whilst I am not decided on weather the App Store as it is is good or not. I cannot see this small move by Apple persuading all the international anti trust investigations and cases to be dropped. It will need to do a lot more then this for that to happen, some investigations are from government departments if I recall?
 
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turbineseaplane said:
It's not enough and it's infuriating that they are determined to do endless tiny little breadcrumb sized baby steps to avoid legal problems.

Apple should be leading on this and making big sweeping changes and fixing the issues and the narrative here.

I'm so totally disappointed in Apple leadership of late.

The magic is gone from this company.
Click to expand...
IMO, the magic left when the iPod became a cultural juaggernaut. As soon as that happened, Apple became a consumer-device company instead of a niche computer company. Not complaining, just my observation.
re: the topic, What should Apple do? From your comment, it sounds like you expect Apple to allow anything a developer wishes. (side-load, communicate at will). Those types of changes has a direct impact on Apple’s revenue and it seems unlikely that they would do so voluntarily.
 
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TheYayAreaLiving said:
What a hot mess! I feel like Apple does not know how to avoid the legal battle with this. I don't think they have any idea how to fix this.
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I think they know exactly what they are doing. Giving as little as they possibly can. I suspect they have many, many eventualities planned out.

Why would they open things up now, when they can give a little now, and get another 6 months of app store revenue before having to give up a little more.
 
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Not trying to be sympathetic to one of the most valued companies ever, but, Apple can not win here no matter what it does.

To summarize:
  • Treat every developer the same, they get grief
  • Treat subscriptions differently after the first year, they get grief
  • Treat small developers differently (better rate), they get grief
  • Allow reader apps to have one link to bypass the IAP, they get grief
  • Apple has a purposely low annual fee to encourage more developers, they get grief that this fee should cover everything
Newsflash - Apple is not a charity.

Think about it this way - every one of us wants to get paid the most possible for doing our jobs. There are millions of free apps littered with ads that benefit from the App Store, and aside from the $99/year or whatever it is, Apple sees $0 from. They pay people to review apps, they store the apps, they pay the bandwidth for those apps to be downloaded, etc. But, yeah, a free app with ads that submits a new app update 6 times a year is clearly making Apple a profit.

”But they can afford it!” - only for so long. They start operating as a charity and then what?
 
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Perhaps Apple should just shut down the App Store if people want their cake and eat it too while Apple gets nothing out of it. In fact I hope Apple shuts down the App Store. Developers have made 7 figure incomes and it’s just not enough for them so perhaps they don’t need Apple anymore and the App Store should just shut down and people can install apps on their iOS devices from various places on the web.
 
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Maconplasma said:
Perhaps Apple should just shut down the App Store if people want their cake and eat it too while Apple gets nothing out of it. In fact I hope Apple shuts down the App Store. Developers have made 7 figure incomes and it’s just not enough for them so perhaps they don’t need Apple anymore and the App Store should just shut down and people can install apps on their iOS devices from various places on the web.
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they can do that.. as long as other marketplaces are not pushed out. It would be fine if apple bowed out.
 
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So based on the app you make, Apple gets some or none of your $:

- free app with ads: Apple gets nothing
- paid or “freemium“ app: Apple gets their cut of purchase price and/or IAPs
- “reader” app like Netflix, Kindle, etc: Apple gets nothing

I can see where the Tweetbot dev is coming from. If your app is in that 2nd group, you are subsidizing the others.
 
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I don’t care what the solution is, but they’ll never make everyone happy. I can only imagine the headache Apple will incur if they are forced to allow side loading of apps or “alternative app stores”.
 
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TheYayAreaLiving said:
What a hot mess! I feel like Apple does not know how to avoid the legal battle with this. I don't think they have any idea how to fix this.
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They know, but they are stubborn like kids.

Open the AppStore, enable sideloading, allow third-party Payments and open NFC, it will be enforced anyway.
That way they would at least save the % for the lawyers.
 
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TheYayAreaLiving said:
What a hot mess! I feel like Apple does not know how to avoid the legal battle with this. I don't think they have any idea how to fix this.
Click to expand...

It's huge business for Apple. Business they have earned through huge investments in industry-leading products, services, and development tools for years and years.

Apple will not not, and should not, just give up on all that revenue and profit without a fight.
 
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Maybe developers suffer ignorant of publishing economics. Content providers—authors and composers, as examples—receive more or less 15% in traditional publishing. Apple is providing 70% for larger developers and 85% for smaller developers. Maybe the developers are destructively ignorant. But, then maybe—not saying, just speculating—the complains come from larger developers to help discourage and weaken their smaller competitors. During the past several years, I ditched products by Microsoft and Adobe in favor of alternatives by smaller innovative developers and the extraordinarily creative open source community. You gotta believe the giants—even in game development—feel the small pinch from customers going elsewhere.
 
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Some developers say Apple should pay all their bills, acquire valuable real estate for them, provide them with enough income to take extravagant vacations AND find them the perfect lifelong mate. Apple should NOT force developers to have to release successful apps on the App Store in order to accomplish that. I mean, they’ve got enough money for it!!
 
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brett_x said:
Cheerleader: "What do we want?"
Developers: "Everything our way, for Free"
Cheerleader: "Where do we want it?"
Developers: "On your platform that you've made us successful on for nearly a decade"
Click to expand...
It's a two way relationship. Apple needs devs and devs need Apple.
Without devs, there would be no App Store.
I'm not saying devs should have a free ride, but the pricing structure and rules Apple has used is the issue.
Apple could charge more for dev licenses to cover hosting and distribution costs. $99 per year is pretty cheap.
Up the license fee and drop the IAP requirement... offer it, but don't make it mandatory and change the cut they take to say 5% or 10% along with the fee increase.
I'm sure a lot of smaller devs like it well enough, but larger companies really can handle financial transactions just fine.
Apple getting a cut of subscriptions is absurd as they have zero involvement with delivery of that type of service.
I never understood how any company would have ever agreed to this fee. I can understand a one time transaction fee if it were setup through IAP, but 15-30% for basically processing a credit card swipe is obscene.
 
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