Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

news.patreon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

951–960 of 1001 posts

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#951

Post by jallbrit »

jms703 wrote: post #949
cortesoft wrote: post #650

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> does anybody want to argue that Apple hosting the Patreon app on iOS provides more value to Patreon subscribers and creators than the existence of Patreon itself does? Well, there is a simple way to test this... just get rid of the Patreon iOS app and just use a web version. Why does patreon need its own app? Why can't it just be web based? I wish fewer companies had apps. I don't need an app for everything. I don'…

YES. So much this. Patreon doesn't even mention the web version in their blog post. Stop making apps when a website will suffice.

> But remember, Apple’s fees are only in the iOS app. Your prices on the web and the Android app will remain completely unaffected. You can always send your fans to this Help Center article which explains the iOS in-app fees relative to other platforms, so they can better understand the implications of where they choose to make their purchases.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#952

Post by dventimi »

If I understand it correctly, if I build an Android app, I can offer in-app payments through a variety of integrations: Google, Stripe, Amazon, etc. If I build an Apple app, in-app payments can only be offered through the Apple payment system. Is that more or less correct?

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#953

Post by talldayo »

gigatexal wrote: post #851

all of this app services stuff and apple can't find a way to stop burning any of its good will, shame really there's got to a good middle ground where all parties are happy and one where apple's goodwill isn't torched

There's no middle-ground that makes Apple happy. Their goal is to have their cake and eat it too, which regulators won't allow. It's basically guaranteed at Apple's scale that they will keep pushing new pricing schemes until the threats to their profit are substantial enough. Over the next few months, we're going to watch regulators inch down the guillotine until Apple finally settles in on something reasonable.

Shame indeed, but I'm fine letting Apple get it out of their system. Their public image is long overdue for a reset anyways.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#954

Post by oglop »

Man I can’t wait to unload this iPhone and finally leave the Apple ecosystem. The watch was the last straw for me. They’ve really nose dived in design and quality. Seeing stuff like this just makes me hate them more. This company went down the tubes years ago and is just running on branding.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#956

Post by lenkite »

eduction wrote: post #913
dcow wrote: post #908

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is CLEARLY worth the 30% to most companies, because they keep pumping out single use apps that would be better as a mobile web page. Based on the context given in the OP, this conclusion does not follow and is not fair. 1. Patreon is passing the 30% on to customers by default, or allowing creators to pay for it out of their existing income, so Patreon isn’t making any value judgement at all. They are leaving it…

> Patreon isn’t making any value judgement at all. They are leaving it up to creators and users. That’s incorrect. They are phasing out two of their three payment options (per creation and first of month) for all creators in order to have the right to operate an app on iOS. That’s a value judgment - Patreon would rather have an app than continue to make independent business judgments. They could have said “well, peop…

Even if the web developed effective single sign-on payment solutions, it would make utterly no difference for iOS, since Safari would never support the same. You can easily bet your life, that Apple would reject this or only maliciously comply.

https://httptoolkit.com/blog/safari-is-killing-the-web/

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#957

Post by gretch »

kristiandupont wrote: post #850
gretch wrote: post #738

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah we could. But just because we do, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing or the smart thing to do. Once upon a time alcohol was voted illegal and even now marijuana is federally illegal. I personally think it’s a shame when the government takes something interesting and working and makes it illegal. Patreon could easily not be an app on iOS, but they really want that money, so now the government has to make laws on a…

>it’s a shame when the government takes something interesting and working and makes it illegal. Do you also think monopolies should be allowed to operate uninterrupted, then?

No I don't, but I get the feeling that you missed an assumption in the middle which is that Apple/iOS is a monopoly.

It's clear to me Patreon is not forced into having an iOS app. They do so because they think they can make more money. But they could be web only.

All of these entities already have a presence on Android + desktop/web and can operate just fine on those. They just want to make more money from the iOS audience.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#958

Post by gretch »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #753
gretch wrote: post #734

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I know that’s not what OP meant. The problem is OP is not fully thinking things through with principles. All these “problems” with walled gardens are well known and consenting adults keep opting into it time and again. I think it’s arrogant to look at a system you aren’t even participating in (can we assume op doesn’t have an iPhone) and say “no those people are doing it wrong”

I don't like this "you consent to the walled garden" approach for a very simple reason: you can do both. Jailbreaking has existed for over a decade but no one was complaining about the walled garden collapsing. Opening up IOS doesn't mean you need to open up too. The garden isn't going anywher. Take it from an android user that has had choice and google play is still the dominant platform. It's just nice that when/if…

> I do it with Russia and North Korea, so call me whatever you want. I'm not just going to dimiss it as "well its their culture" if their culture breaks fundamental principles I was raised on.

Are you really equating the human rights atrocities of those nations with Apple business practices?

Here's the difference - Putin kills people who disagree with him. If you want to leave Russia, people with guns stop you (see East Berlin).

And you want to equate that with simply making a choice to not buy an iPhone and buy another phone instead?

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#959

Post by throwaway48476 »

fmj wrote: post #805
rembicilious wrote: post #761

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really true? Maybe it just makes sense to put high demand refrigerated products in the refrigerated room near the loading dock where the refrigerated trailer is unloaded?

Yeah, I hear people repeat that a lot, but it doesn't entirely align with my experience. A lot of the grocery stores I shop at (mostly Kroger and other national chains,) have a cooler right up front with the most popular dairy/refrigerated items for the people that are just there to pick those up.

All the Krogers I've been to have had the dairy opposite the entrance.

Re: Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon

#960

Post by throwaway48476 »

ben_w wrote: post #836
throwaway48476 wrote: post #702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Breaking up standard oil famously created a lot more value.

Apparently that's still controversial (I learned just now while trying to learn more about the breakup). However, it was easy to see cut lines in Standard Oil. Breaking up (and privatising) the UK national rail network didn't work so well; a few years after it happened, the party who did it lost power, and had apparently forgotten they had even done this to the trains as they were running ads saying "you paid the tax…

There is such a thing as a natural monopoly. Usually these are more efficient when run by the government because they inherently cannot benefit from the advantages of market competition.
Post reply on HN