The longer this case goes on, the scummier Apple looks. Firing back with a 27% cut isn't going to relieve pressure from this vessel; its going to piss off developers even more, its going to drag the case out even longer, and frankly its going to become evidence in an inevitable future, separate trial concerning broader anti-competitiveness.
Apple could make stupid amounts of money by just lowering the cut to 7%. Just lower it! You'll make the IAP system more accessible to your mega-business peers, and one company like Netflix deciding that 7% is an acceptable cut is worth ten-thousand indie developers suffering through 30% (or, I suppose, 15% if under a million now).
Anyone who believes their behavior is about security is being intentionally daft about their inaction in lowering these fees. If its about security: lower the fees. Make these problems go away. The judge insinuated it herself; there is more a case here that their fees are too high, but that's not what Epic pursued, so they lost.
The alternative is dark for both Apple and Apple's users. There's no innovation in the iOS app ecosystem anymore, beyond thirty copycat ChatGPT apps. Why should there be? Software is expensive to build, and Apple is putting up a toll-booth larger than the US Tax System to enter. There exist alternate realities where the iPhone Pro and iPad Pro are actually professional devices, which cultivate the creation of bespoke, powerful software for the form-factor. Gates defined a platform as a piece of software itself could be created with. Apple, the company, could never be created within Apple's world. Apple doesn't create platforms. I'm not confident they create much of anything anymore. Their most profitable skill nowadays is extraction, not creation.
> The alternative is dark for both Apple and Apple's users. There's no innovation in the iOS app ecosystem anymore, beyond thirty copycat ChatGPT apps
There's a multi-billion dollar revenue line item for App Store ads that Apple can't lose. Nobody on the Apple software side gives a rat's ass about innovation.
Apple could make stupid amounts of money by just lowering the cut to 7%. Just lower it! You'll make the IAP system more accessible to your mega-business peers, and one company like Netflix deciding that 7% is an acceptable cut is worth ten-thousand indie developers suffering through 30% (or, I suppose, 15% if under a million now).
Anyone who believes their behavior is about security is being intentionally daft about their inaction in lowering these fees. If its about security: lower the fees. Make these problems go away. The judge insinuated it herself; there is more a case here that their fees are too high, but that's not what Epic pursued, so they lost.
The alternative is dark for both Apple and Apple's users. There's no innovation in the iOS app ecosystem anymore, beyond thirty copycat ChatGPT apps. Why should there be? Software is expensive to build, and Apple is putting up a toll-booth larger than the US Tax System to enter. There exist alternate realities where the iPhone Pro and iPad Pro are actually professional devices, which cultivate the creation of bespoke, powerful software for the form-factor. Gates defined a platform as a piece of software itself could be created with. Apple, the company, could never be created within Apple's world. Apple doesn't create platforms. I'm not confident they create much of anything anymore. Their most profitable skill nowadays is extraction, not creation.