It's weird how Epic has no problem with closed hardware consoles...
Do these take a 30% cut from online purchases as well?
Yes.
Apple, Epic, and the App Store
61–70 of 781 posts
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#62Okay this is going to sound stupid but maybe someone else feels like me about it: I don't understand why Apple has to take such a big chunk from transactions of in-app purchases? Similarly Google. Why 30%? Why not 5%? That feels like it would be more honest. Is it just because "they can"?
This is something I hadn't thought about until the article pointed it out. According to the first link in google (https://www.braze.com/blog/in-app-purchase-stats/) the average iOS IAP in 2017 was $1.08. If you compare that to Square and Stripe's fee structure then the processing fees charged by the credit card processors is about 25%. This means Apple's taking for themselves much closer to a 5% cut which seems much more reasonable for the services provided.
Why Apple doesn't switch to a 5% + $0.29 structure is anybody's guess, however...
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#63Does Epic allow players to buy Fortnite content from outside of Fortnite, without giving Epic any money?
Do Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo allow other stores on their consoles?
How much % do they take from console game sales?
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#64In the spirit of this particular story, I'd like to ask HN the following question: Should closed hardware (that owns its entire stack) even be legal to sell? Yes, it's legal today but should we make it illegal? To try another example besides Apple iPhone, consider the $35000 Prima Cinema movie server to play 1st run movies at home on day of release: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22prima+cinema%22&source=ln... In m…
> So the question is, should consumers be able to knowingly buy restricted hardware such as Prima Cinema?
If this would be restricted then you should keep it legal to buy but illegal to sell. Making the purchase illegal would only further criminalize the consumer.
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#65Okay this is going to sound stupid but maybe someone else feels like me about it: I don't understand why Apple has to take such a big chunk from transactions of in-app purchases? Similarly Google. Why 30%? Why not 5%? That feels like it would be more honest. Is it just because "they can"?
Call a spade a spade. Not even the mafia extorted businesses for 30%. I'd argue an act of digital eminent domain is in order. Imagine being a store owner and having to give a 30% kickback to your landlord.
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some customers buy into the Apple ecosystem because of its walled garden. Not despite of it.
Really? Who?
Me. My life is too full of other things to want to worry about the latest bit of malware floating around on Android, or whether my phone will stop getting updates a year or two after I own it.
To me, a phone should work for me, not the other way around. I'd rather spend my time living my life than fussing with the technicalities of my phone. I'm willing to pay extra for it.
I also went with iPhone because I trust Apple to vet its apps better than any other vendor. When someone else does as good a job, I'll head over there. But for now, iPhone is where it's at.
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some customers buy into the Apple ecosystem because of its walled garden. Not despite of it.
Really? Who?
Me. It limits the attack surface and all the problems that come with openness, very visible in the Android world.
The problem is that giving a choice to users is risky and not acceptable at scale because people are not smart, they do dumb things all the time; like pasting untrusted scripts into devtools console and getting hacked. Or replying to mail scams.
So I am happy I can hand an iPad to my parent and not be there to secure all activities they do online.
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really? Who?
Not my sole reason, but since you asked, here I am. I give my children iPhones. I like having certain family controls over what they use, and further controls over what appears in the app store to begin with. I like having a single vendor for all my software purchases, that I can trust to issue refunds and discontinue subscriptions promptly. I spend all day thinking about computers, I don't want to also be my own IT…
I will add to this: I wish my parents had stuck with iPhones. The amount of IT support that I had to do after they switched went up quite a bit. It's been a few years so they've adjusted (and I've just ignored their complaints and told them to fix it themselves) but who knows what garbage they've installed on their phones! They're not tech savvy. It would be quite nice if they had stuck with iPhones.
I remember they got Samsung tablets and when I had looked at them to see if I would like to buy one... I saw they were completely full of - essentially - spyware and malware.
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some customers buy into the Apple ecosystem because of its walled garden. Not despite of it.
Really? Who?
Me. I like the sandboxing. I like Apple Pay (especially for subscriptions). I like the new random-gen email addresses system. I like that apps have to use these things and can't just opt-out, because I may have to use the app for work or something.
It's not the only thing I care about, but it's not all just strict downside.
Re: Apple, Epic, and the App Store
#70Not versed enough in law to argue about this, but from a customer point of view, I hope that Apple wins as I would hate the iOS ecosystem to end up being a Wild West like the Android. I am happy to pay for a premium to have peace of mind. To give an analogy it’s kind of like gaming console vs PC gaming where I am happy to sacrifice a bit of performance in exchange of getting rid of all shady game-specific launchers
You're not addressing the real issue here though - should Apple get a cut of the revenue from in game purchases? Once you download the game and are looking to purchase more of the game you've already let the app pass your "shady wild west" internal warning system.