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Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers

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Re: Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers

#21

Post by gjsman-1000 »

routerl wrote: post #13

Let's be clear about this: this settlement means that Apple is offering developers less than what they believe they would be forced to provide by law. There is never any other business logic behind these settlements. This is just another brick on the "benevolent monopoly" road.

The App Store is under investigation by at least a half dozen countries right now.

To me, Apple losing the App Store appears completely inevitable; and Apple is willing to throw $100 million at a last-ditch effort to keep the status quo.

And if we're lucky and devs are smart, we'll have developers publicly mock those checks from Apple's fund because that was money that Apple took from them with the revenue split and is giving back a fraction of, how generous.

It's like when people get excited about tax refunds from the IRS. Super exciting, until you realize it was excess money taken from you to begin with.

Re: Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers

#25

Post by bpicolo »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #14

I don't understand why the App Store, this small "side business" in the grand scheme of things, is something Apple is worth fighting and dying over. It's literally, a small fraction of their revenue, and yet it grabs 80% of the bad PR and is now under investigation and proposed legislation in the US, UK, EU, Korea, and I think Australia. If I'm Apple, shouldn't it be obvious at this point that losing the App Store mo…

Side business? $64 billion in revenue in 2020. That's like a quarter of their overall revenue?

Re: Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers

#26

Post by gjsman-1000 »

bpicolo wrote: post #25
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #14

I don't understand why the App Store, this small "side business" in the grand scheme of things, is something Apple is worth fighting and dying over. It's literally, a small fraction of their revenue, and yet it grabs 80% of the bad PR and is now under investigation and proposed legislation in the US, UK, EU, Korea, and I think Australia. If I'm Apple, shouldn't it be obvious at this point that losing the App Store mo…

Side business? $64 billion in revenue in 2020. That's like a quarter of their overall revenue?

Revenue, but that's before devs get their cut.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-profitable-is-apples-a...

In total... more like $22 billion of profit? Not trivial, but compared to Apple's other profitable businesses...

Re: Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers

#27

Post by wombatmobile »

routerl wrote: post #13

Let's be clear about this: this settlement means that Apple is offering developers less than what they believe they would be forced to provide by law. There is never any other business logic behind these settlements. This is just another brick on the "benevolent monopoly" road.

> Let's be clear about this: this settlement means that Apple is offering developers less than what they believe they would be forced to provide by law.

Not necessarily. You haven't taken account of costs, or the possibility that the parties both felt this was the best outcome regardless of what (unpredictable) quantum a court may have awarded.

Litigation is a poor use of time for both parties and is best avoided for the good of both parties.

Whether the settlement is "fair", "reasonable", "agreeable", or "forced" is another matter. The point is, you can't assess or deduce it without more information.

Re: Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers

#28

Post by LegitShady »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #21
routerl wrote: post #13

Let's be clear about this: this settlement means that Apple is offering developers less than what they believe they would be forced to provide by law. There is never any other business logic behind these settlements. This is just another brick on the "benevolent monopoly" road.

The App Store is under investigation by at least a half dozen countries right now. To me, Apple losing the App Store appears completely inevitable; and Apple is willing to throw $100 million at a last-ditch effort to keep the status quo. And if we're lucky and devs are smart, we'll have developers publicly mock those checks from Apple's fund because that was money that Apple took from them with the revenue split and…

It's not that apple is going to lose the app store, it's that some of apple's more egregious policies (such as banning pointing users to other payment methods to monopolize payments completely unrelated to apple provided services) are being challenged and apple doesn't want to set any precedents or get any judgements against them on this civil suit.

Re: Apple agrees to settle potential class action suit by U.S. developers

#29

Post by jimhi »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #14

I don't understand why the App Store, this small "side business" in the grand scheme of things, is something Apple is worth fighting and dying over. It's literally, a small fraction of their revenue, and yet it grabs 80% of the bad PR and is now under investigation and proposed legislation in the US, UK, EU, Korea, and I think Australia. If I'm Apple, shouldn't it be obvious at this point that losing the App Store mo…

Some quick googling told me a lot of things

Apple hides how much it makes in the app store by combining it into their iPhone product segment.

"Apple doesn’t disclose how much revenue its App Store makes per year. Instead, since 2013, it has released data points in January that include the total that Apple has paid to developers since the beginning of the App Store in 2008."

The low estimates for the app store are $64 billion last year and 70%+ margins. It is entirely possible Apple makes most of its money from the app store.

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