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Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

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Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#201

Post by [deleted] »

3grdlurker wrote: post #159
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #107

The antitrust case against Apple is so overdue it's embarrassing. What I don't get is people who defend it. Imagine Microsoft taking 30% of every purchase you make online because you used their OS to get there. Then would the defenders admit it's an obvious abuse of a monopoly? What makes it different for Apple?

I just like Apple’s App Store the way that it is. I’ve been through so many technology stacks and it I find their platform a joy to work with. The SDKs are coherent, very well-architected, extremely easy to use, and I have access to a user base that has very high adoption rates of the latest software versions so that I don’t have to worry so much about fragmentation. It’s the happiest I’ve been as a coder, so I feel…

[deleted]

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#202

Post by smnrchrds »

ibero wrote: post #196
smnrchrds wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix was able to do this because Apple carved out an exception for them by gerrymandering the rules so Netflix could do this. They did that because Netflix was powerful enough. Hey tried to do a similar thing, but Apple was having none of it. They were going to force them to pay them 30%, because they were not powerful enough. When the social media storm made them more powerful, Apple acquiesced.

wait, what was Netflix able to do?

Netflix does not allow you to sign up in their iOS app. You have to sing up and set up payment through their website, but you can use your username and password to use your subscription in iOS. They do not pay the Apple Tax.

Hey tried to use the exact same, but Apple said they MUST allow sign ups in the app, using in-app purchase API, and paying 30% to Apple. Apple was not going to allow Hey to do what Netflix/Spotify/etc have done for ages, until public sentiments and social media storm forced them to acquiesce.

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#203

Post by sagarm »

enlyth wrote: post #36
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #25

Serious question, why does everything require an app? Why can't the same thing be accomplished via the mobile web? I get so tired of being prompted to install apps when you could just *show me the damned web page*. Anything that requires speed can be done via webassembly, and sure, anything like games can ship a native app.

I think people are used to just scrolling to an icon on their home screen and tapping on it, and companies like Apple/Google don't really like the idea of PWAs because they lose control over the developers and walled garden ecosystems they have created Developers will optimize for what feels natural to the user, i.e. installing an "app" which doesn't require typing an address in the browser or scrolling through bookm…

Chrome supports installing web apps to your home screen, though clearly even among the HN crowd that is not common knowledge.

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#204

Post by the_other »

devit wrote: post #150
drivebycomment wrote: post #30

Per https://fanhouse.app/ , "Fanhouse is the place where creators can monetize their social media personalities by posting freely about their lives, like a finsta, close friends story, or private alt, while connecting and engaging with their top fans." So they built a platform, where they take some cut for themselves, while allowing other people to sell some digital contents on their platform. Apple built a platform,…

You can easily use another platform instead of Fanhouse (users can easily go on another website or app). You can't easily use another delivery method for apps to iPhone users (that would require iPhone users to also buy and carry an Android device, which is a massive hassle).

Or use the web.

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#205

Post by smnrchrds »

AlexandrB wrote: post #194
smnrchrds wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did not just draw a line; they gerrymandered a line so Netflix would not leave App Store and Apple would not lose its income from smaller players while pretending it is a fair line in the sand. Even Marco Arment has commented on the ridiculousness of the complexity of the line. I highly recommend reading the link below. https://marco.org/2020/09/11/app-review-changes

That post is from Sept. 2020, but Netflix (and Audible, Comixology + others) have been dodging the 30% cut for years simply by not allowing you to pay within the app. I'm not sure Apple had Netflix in mind with this change.

See my other comment here about Netflix:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27453395

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#206

Post by rhodysurf »

prepend wrote: post #167
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #107

The antitrust case against Apple is so overdue it's embarrassing. What I don't get is people who defend it. Imagine Microsoft taking 30% of every purchase you make online because you used their OS to get there. Then would the defenders admit it's an obvious abuse of a monopoly? What makes it different for Apple?

It’s more like having a shop in a mall. Apple doesn’t take 30% of anything using their phones. They take 30% of anything installed and bought using their walled garden/app store/api/etc. Similar to Windows store, Xbox, ps, steam, etc etc. I used to be annoyed at Nintendo and Sega requiring their cut, but got used to it. What makes it different is that Apple isn’t a monopoly. You can use Android or PCs or whatever. If…

You’re missing the part where apple only allows users to install apps through that App Store

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#207

Post by bruceb »

baby wrote: post #50
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #25

Serious question, why does everything require an app? Why can't the same thing be accomplished via the mobile web? I get so tired of being prompted to install apps when you could just *show me the damned web page*. Anything that requires speed can be done via webassembly, and sure, anything like games can ship a native app.

I’m wondering if native mobile apps are doomed to disappear as the web and mobile Browsers meet in the middle, the same way everything was a native app for quite some time in desktop land and now everything is a webapp.

Doubt it, mobile phones have only increased in features. More features, more likely need native app.

What incentive to does Apple have to make people use apps less and the web more?

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#208

Post by the_other »

alexyz12 wrote: post #162
dyingkneepad wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your service not having access to my data is a feature. It's one of the primary reasons I prefer websites over apps.

what if the service is a way to manage your data? In my case its a photo library alternative for fitness photos/videos. Take a picture of your handstand every month and store it locally in the app documents folder or on PhotoKit so that you can see improvements over time (nothing is stored in the cloud). I don't know of a way to do that on a mobile website.

I wish you well.

I wont be a customer because I don’t care enough about my looks or fitness to get into daily photos. But, really, what does your app offer over the photo gallery and folders already on my phone?

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#209

Post by mschuster91 »

filoleg wrote: post #168
Krasnol wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And before someone says "well, this is a gaming console, not a phone/computing device", I will say that it has apps (youtube/streaming services/etc.), it has a web browser, and plenty other functionality not related to games. How much is the cut for those functionalities for MS?

You are welcome to look at the leaked documents[0], and they have a nice table showing cuts for all kinds of transactions on Microsoft Store. Looks like currently it is 30% for games, 15% for apps and app subscriptions, and they were exploring reducing the game-related cuts down to 12%. Microsoft spokesperson's reply to those leaked documents was "we have no plans to change the revenue share for console games at this…

> If that's the argument, then what's the magic number threshold that makes you a monopoly after you cross it?

Let's assume a very generous 5% for payment costs (credit cards are capped at 0.3% in the EU, but US cards with their rewards can run up to 5% in merchant fees, and god knows about the cost of doing business in other markets), another very generous 5% for CDN/hosting (data traffic isn't cheap, modern games easily run into triple digit GB sizes, and gamers are notorious for bringing down even the largest CDNs on delivery dates), and another 5% for profit and other costs (development), and you end up at something like 15%.

Anything above that is ripping people off.

Re: Apple is threatening to remove Fanhouse unless they give 30% of creator earning

#210

Post by sagarm »

toast0 wrote: post #132
jeroenhd wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those have been part of the web standards for ages (serviceworkers, web notifications).

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'd actually love to be wrong), but browsers don't let you do silent pushes, and background data fetches are pretty limited, which makes it hard to do something where the phone gets updated frequently with non-urgent data, so that when you open the app/page, you have current data regardless of connectivity when you open the app, assuming you've got at least intermittent connectivity. Weather,…

Why the heck do you need to be constantly pushed headlines, sport scores, and non-urgent messages? Just make them load fast, so when you only use resources on the device when the app is actually in use.

It's exactly this kind of wasteful resource usage and the accompanying notification spam that drives me to avoid native apps in the first place.

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