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WordPress for iOS Was Blocked From Updating Unless it Agreed to Add In-App Purchases for .Com Plans [Updated]
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Or how about Apple allow developers to offer their own IAP alongside Apple’s if they so choose. And cut the IAP to 15% for everything. Apple can always make their IAP (and all the services/benefits that go with it) so good developers will chose to use Apple over Stripe or something else. But for larger companies that have their own secure payment processing system they don’t have to use Apple’s IAP. And then consumers can buy Kindle books in the Kindle app, sign up for Spotify or Netflix and manage subscriptions right in the app. Taking a slight hit on services revenues to keep developers happy and provide a better user experience for customers is worth it. It also has the added benefit of making it less likely regulators will force changes on Apple - potentially worse changes like forcing the company to allow 3rd party app stores or direct downloads from a browser.
Exactly! How should anyone understand the rules if even Apple can't consistently apply them?
Apple is just getting greedy now. I'm not at all impressed with the direction that they're going in. This feels like the state Microsoft was in 20 years ago when they were dominant with Windows and Office - and it wasn't enough. They wanted more. At this point, I think that anti-trust remedies would make Apple a better company.
The larger shareholders have lunch with the folks in government. And, as most of this hinges on “businesses doing business” and adhering to agreements, they’re likely to let it stand. I’m sure they’ll say meanwords to be reported in public.
If Apple lowered it, it COULD be seen as using their money to drive developers away from other platforms by making iOS more appealing. I mean, Android ONLY has the marketshare in the US that it has because of certain things Apple doesn’t do. Once Apple starts to do those things, it would be a death knell for anything not iOS.
Not only that, but Hey’s free version truly only has a 2-week shelf life before you have to pay up. WordPress would let you use their free version indefinitely.
this is not the end, I recently saw a screenshot of beatstars.com staff saying that Apple will now take 30% of beats sale, I am not sure if it's from beatstars or end-user since beatstars does not take any % on beats sale unless you have a free account which is very limited
Netflix app doesn't support in-app purchases for their digital services and it's still allowed on the app store.
Apple excluding them to the rule because it's harder to boss around and bully large corporations vs small companies like WordPress?
Apple loves simplicity and its one-sized-fits-all approach worked for many years.
Now that it has become so big, I’d recommend that it should work more like a typical retailer/shelf space. Different industries have different margins and should have different revenue shares (like amazon or Best Buy.)
Some categories with larger margins could remain at 30% while others could be lower. Apps like Spotify or Netflix might bite at 5% whereas now Apple gets 0. This could be a win/win for developers, shareholders, and customers. It might encourage more subscription apps and actually increase revenue through price elasticity.
Now that it has become so big, I’d recommend that it should work more like a typical retailer/shelf space. Different industries have different margins and should have different revenue shares (like amazon or Best Buy.)
Some categories with larger margins could remain at 30% while others could be lower. Apps like Spotify or Netflix might bite at 5% whereas now Apple gets 0. This could be a win/win for developers, shareholders, and customers. It might encourage more subscription apps and actually increase revenue through price elasticity.
No you don’t. It is like, hey if you don’t like selling in our city because you don’t like sales tax, then you can sell in other city. So company just wave goodbye to customer from that city.
Or if company doesn’t like how a country operate, like China, they can choose not operate in China? So if Apple were forced to make change by Chinese government, so Apple can pack up and go? Because Apple does have choose to operate in other country?
If this sounds unreasonable for you, then what Apple does is unreasonable.
What seems to me in this case to be bad for Apple is that the WordPress app has been there in the App Store for quite some time now. This isn’t really the same as the Epic/Fortnite issue because Epic snuck in their own IAP options after being told not to. WordPress has had their approved app in place for some time now, and have probably really come to rely on its use for their users. If Apple’s already approved prior versions of the app, why does this one trigger the “nope” flag.
Apple is excluding a special category. A small streaming company could receive the same treatment. Has nothing to do with large vs small companies.
BTW, Wordpress powers 19 percent of the Web. Wordpress is far from being a "small company".
The reason iOS is secure is because Apple is the gate keeper. They review every app to make sure there are no viruses or any funny stuff going on. If something slips by they can kill that app and ban the developer if need be. Once you open it up to other stores that is all gone. If someone creates a vulnerability that affects the OS and puts it in a store that doesn't care about reviewing (which none will), this virus could spread to devices that never even bought from that store. Apple would have no control to get that app out of the system.
Having multiple stores, and trust me if you allow this, means their will be a lot of stores. As a user, instead of looking at one store to buy something, I now have to look into 3 thousand of them. Hopefully those stores also come up with a mechanism of updating those apps. Now instead of hitting update all my apps, I have to go into each store to update things making it a fragmented mess. Its one thing to do this on a computer where generally people have a few programs to use and manage, it's another thing to control all this on a phone with hundreds of apps.
I can understand why developers want to keep a few extra percentage points for themselves, but I can't understand why end users want to acquire these problems. Again, this is all available on Android so if its important to you, get an android device. Heck, you can even have both devices at the same time if you want. You can get android devices fairly cheap if you want to see how the multiple store experience is not a fun one.
The WordPress app doesn't sell anything. Why should it have to have IAP's? And why should it have bug fixes blocked until it does add them?
The wordpress app is not a consumption oriented app which is the basic requirement to skirt most of the policies.
Anti Trust will jump on this and help Apple rewrite those policies. It's a free app that doesn't sell anything, that has been on the store for years, and is now being forced to add IAPs.
What about the kindle app? Or vudu? Or any other app that you have to buy at a .com Apple is going to lose in court eventually. It’s not fair. And why digital but not real goods? shouldn’t Amazon and eBay have to go through in app purchases. I don’t see Apple winning they should make nice and rewrite the rules now before they lose face and marketplace. Apple should allow other app stores to compete (and don’t say switch to android that’s just an excuse) at least google play store has competition on its platform.
Yeah that’s what I’m trying to understand, too. I had a free Wordpress account at one time but generally am not that familiar with them. If they have hosting services for the public (not just iOS customers) that they sell through their own web site and purchase processing system, I don’t see how they are in violation of their terms of service with Apple by having an app to let people use part of Wordpress.
Is Apple trying to force Wordpress into rolling their hosting service into Apple’s payment service in the App Store? Just because Wordpress happens to offer an app for iOS users to publish on WP? That seems like an over reach if that is correct. But again, I am not completely clear as to what is happening here.
And again it’s not clear why Apple is doing this now after all this time. It seems hostile to its customers. I’d be inclined now to avoid doing anything through App Store apps for fear of suddenly one day being left high and dry.
I genuinely don’t know the answers to the following questions, just mostly curious about consistency of application:
If I’m not an Amazon Prime customer, can I sign up through Apple billing in the iOS app? (Not prime video, actual Prime)
If I want to convert a workspace from a free domain in Slack to a paid one, I can do that direct through Slack - not IAP, right?
Can I order a genomic test through, say, 23andMe as an IAP? Isn’t the app useless without a paid-for kit?
What I do know:
I can manage my Netflix subscription (moving between levels of included options and that doesn’t require IAP)
I can pay for parking, a hotel, a flight, a train pass, etc... without going through IAP.
I can order food without IAP.
I can order physical product through Amazon, Best Buy, AT&T, etc...
I can manage my Comcast/Xfinity subscription through the app
I cannot buy Kindle or Audible books in app.
I can subscribe to paid educational content portals that do not offer IAP
My benefits portal app is useless without a benefits plan that I don’t pay Apple at all for
If I’m not an Amazon Prime customer, can I sign up through Apple billing in the iOS app? (Not prime video, actual Prime)
If I want to convert a workspace from a free domain in Slack to a paid one, I can do that direct through Slack - not IAP, right?
Can I order a genomic test through, say, 23andMe as an IAP? Isn’t the app useless without a paid-for kit?
What I do know:
I can manage my Netflix subscription (moving between levels of included options and that doesn’t require IAP)
I can pay for parking, a hotel, a flight, a train pass, etc... without going through IAP.
I can order food without IAP.
I can order physical product through Amazon, Best Buy, AT&T, etc...
I can manage my Comcast/Xfinity subscription through the app
I cannot buy Kindle or Audible books in app.
I can subscribe to paid educational content portals that do not offer IAP
My benefits portal app is useless without a benefits plan that I don’t pay Apple at all for
Apple is turning into a pretty scummy company lately. It sucks, because they are the best OS for being a Linux SysAdmin. Doing my job from a Windows machine would be feasible, especially since WSL2, but their hardware is the best. I bought a Razer Blade 15 Advanced and their build quality is pretty darn good, but it's not a MBP. As weird as it is, the trackpad is the best feature and something that I can't really live without.
What Apple is pulling off here makes Microsoft appear like a saint, at least from the customers perspective. That 1984 persiflage by Epic posted on YT the other day was really on point. The walled garden has turned into a golden cage and soon will feel like a prison, if they continue with this shakedown.
I dont agree. 30% is nothing compared to Amazons 70% cut for kindle books if you aren’t exclusive to them. That’s greed.
Man good thing google charges a ridiculously low 30%. Shows just how greedy Apple really is
The difference there is the distinction between online subscriptions that have an app, and apps that offer subscriptions. Something like, I don’t know, ToDoist is the latter. Wordpress is the former. A Wordpress domain that isn’t offered through iOS shouldn’t be forced to be offered through iOS.