What should the customer acquisition, marketplace, transaction, distribution, and experience support cost be for free apps? Something like 7 to 10% of what?
The judge who ruled against Epic on the breach of contract wrote:
”There appears to be evidence that everyone that uses these kind of platforms to sell games is charging 30%. Whether Epic likes it, the industry and not just Apple seem to be charging that. Right now, Epic is paying Apple nothing. Epic itself charges third parties.”
I don’t think we should get to tell Apple what the % is, they’re a private company.
However, i am ok with adjusting the amount we charge them for use of public services - their reliance on the rule of law, that we’re not at war etc. etc. becomes more valuable in absolute terms to a company, the more payments it accepts within a jurisdiction.
I think it’s totally fair to invoice for govt services based on the value of them to the company.
To be clear this would not be like taxes on profits, i’m proposing an invoice against receipts.
That would introduce a level of red-tape that would make any bureaucrat faint. Can you imagine billing any company for the cost of government services directly? Billing for the “rule-of-law”? That would be a completely unworkable system.
Plus, if you did this, what would stop the company from increasing their percentage in order to pay for your new taxes?
But what you’re describing is the logic behind a progressive income tax. The more money you make — the more important the system (rule of law, security, etc) becomes to you, so the more you should pay. At least, that’s the theory...
There is no market force to provide for proper price discovery of those services. It's only fair to regulate it if Apple is unwilling to subject that business to competition.
Jurisdictions become participants in a market for access to their buyers.
I dont agree with your condition of fairness but i woukd point out Apple has already established vehement unwillingness to compete on app stores anyway.
I think that will be a hard pill to swallow for many other developers. If there ends up being pricing regulation of the Apple App Store, you can be sure that the same thing will come down Microsoft (Xbox), Sony (Playstation), Nintendo, Facebook (Oculus), and every other platform’s digital store. All of these charge 30% (or close to it). Focusing on the 30% figure is the easy path for regulation, but it will have far-reaching consequences.
Notice — when Microsoft signed on to the Epic vs Apple fight, their concern wasn’t the fate of Fortnite and their fight against the 30% App Store fee, or even the rights of Apple to control what is and is not in the App Store. Microsoft’s goal was to protect the access of the Unreal engine for other iOS/Mac developers. Microsoft’s support for Epic is very focused in this regard.
I am also very happy with Apple putting down sensible rules in their app store.
Unfortunately, a lot of people are, how can I say it lightly, scumbags that will try to do anything to get more money.
When you think about a couple of rules that do not make sense at the first glance and look like corporate greed, when you think about them in depth, they do make a lot of sense.
Let’s talk about the “Do not
mention that you can subscribe out of the application” rule, for example. It does look like a cash grab, but actually this rule prevents people from offering “discounts” with different terms of service and cancellation options, severely damaging the mobile app platform.
But I think Apple and Google both have a significant revenue stream from world society as most people use smart phones.
Like AT&T and RCA of days gone by they need to have their free money spout regulated.
They've clearly made billions but that 30% cut needs to go down. At least that's what I see as a solution.
Something like 7 to 10%. Thoughts?