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ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'

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Re: ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'

#41

Post by politician »

secretsatan wrote: post #20

From the article : Apple responded, saying that free companion apps to paid online services are no longer required to have in-app purchases as of September 11, 2020. As long as paid upgrades are not offered through the app and it has no notifications to customers about an external subscription service, everything is fine. So....

If I were Protonmail, I would just start emailing customers about the subscription service instead of baking into the app. Maybe delay the campaign until after the app is accepted. This policy from Apple is ridiculous.

Re: ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'

#43

Post by bsg75 »

I'm actually happier to pay a small premium for IAP based subscriptions because of the cancellation options.

Having been subjected to asinine "retention" policies that make ending a subscription service an onerous and time consuming process (ex: NYT), and having seen first hand how a company purposefully makes subscription cancellations difficult, being able to open a single interface and click `Cancel` is a massive UX benefit.

I'm not debating if a 30% cut is reasonable, but in the drive to move everything to a subscription model, I have started avoiding services without an IAP option.

Re: ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'

#45

Post by Spooky23 »

bsg75 wrote: post #43

I'm actually happier to pay a small premium for IAP based subscriptions because of the cancellation options. Having been subjected to asinine "retention" policies that make ending a subscription service an onerous and time consuming process (ex: NYT), and having seen first hand how a company purposefully makes subscription cancellations difficult, being able to open a single interface and click `Cancel` is a massive…

There’s a lot of drama associated with this stuff. 100% of nothing is less than 70% of something.

When I was in college I interned at a company that negotiated retail placements for stuff like software. The 30% slice is a much better model than the terms our customers were stuck with.

In some cases, software people lose more in the channel for commercial software as well — companies like SHI skim the cream for doing almost nothing. I can say as someone running a big enterprise org that there is no chance in hell that I’m wasting time negotiating terms with little companies, but Apple’s App Store model makes it possible to buy stuff.

Re: ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'

#47

Post by dtech »

bsg75 wrote: post #43

I'm actually happier to pay a small premium for IAP based subscriptions because of the cancellation options. Having been subjected to asinine "retention" policies that make ending a subscription service an onerous and time consuming process (ex: NYT), and having seen first hand how a company purposefully makes subscription cancellations difficult, being able to open a single interface and click `Cancel` is a massive…

In the EU consumer protection law mandate this. You have to be able to cancel in all the same ways that you can sign up. The most common way to pay subscriptions is with SEPA direct debit, and banks have to let you revoke those authorizations even retro-actively for 90 days.

Re: ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'

#48

Post by mcintyre1994 »

simonh wrote: post #32
lc9er wrote: post #21

Not necessarily related, but I’m subscriptioned and incremental-purchased out. Any time I see “In-App purchase”, I immediately skip the app.

I do sympathise, but IAP can be implemented in useful ways. For example games with DLC such as extra campaigns or game modes. I'm a big fan of a war game on iOS that offers additional maps as IAPs. Unfortunately most IAPs are in the form of pay to win crap like gems and coins, but it doesn't have to be that way.

The App Store also shows the list of IAPs for an app so you can distinguish between the add-on and garbage style before installing.

Re: ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'

#50

Post by gogopuppygogo »

Spooky23 wrote: post #45
bsg75 wrote: post #43

I'm actually happier to pay a small premium for IAP based subscriptions because of the cancellation options. Having been subjected to asinine "retention" policies that make ending a subscription service an onerous and time consuming process (ex: NYT), and having seen first hand how a company purposefully makes subscription cancellations difficult, being able to open a single interface and click `Cancel` is a massive…

There’s a lot of drama associated with this stuff. 100% of nothing is less than 70% of something. When I was in college I interned at a company that negotiated retail placements for stuff like software. The 30% slice is a much better model than the terms our customers were stuck with. In some cases, software people lose more in the channel for commercial software as well — companies like SHI skim the cream for doing…

Agreed. Channel margin can exceed 30% commissions for enterprise SaaS.

I see more of an issue with Apple telling Telegram how to moderate their platform than with the high fees for distribution on the platform.

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