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Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

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Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See: bin Laden's letter to America doing rounds in the internet in 2023.

False equivalency. Most people like living in America and tons of people want to move there, while only religious fanatics would be okay living in a country built and controlled by Al-qaeda

Our religious fanatics have put an insurrectionist who stole classified documents as their top choice for leader. Hopefully the trend of being a desirable place to live continues, but I don't know if it's yet safe to point fingers at the awful governments built by other sets of religious fanatics.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. They’re allowing alternate payment processing with a link from an an iOS app to a webpage, and reducing their commission to either 12 or 27% representing a 3% discount for not doing the payment processing themselves. They’re basically following the ruling based on some California law being applied nationally that the Supreme Court declined to hear on appeal. The judge said Apple would have to allow links out to a…

I wonder how Apple thinks they're going to measure the transactions that take place. Simply clicking on the link and visiting the third-party-payment site doesn't prove anything, because the user could bail out before paying.

They're claiming they have the right to demand accounting.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#164
The infamous 30% goes back to the time when there where no app stores and we, mainly game developers, had to publish our games thru publishers who used to take a large percent of income, 50% or higher, up to 70% I heard; in order for app stores to become competitive they set the fee to 30% which was an incredibly great deal for us! It seemed to me that the democratization of game publishing finally arrived at that point. Not trying to defend them, just telling that times change.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm talking about iOS apps specifically. Don't pretend that not making your app available for the second most popular mobile OS is acceptable.

You're not forced to make apps for iOS or any Apple product. Making your app for the second most popular OS is acceptable because that's what iOS is. I know you tried to make it seem like Android is but, worldwide, Android is far more popular than iOS. The fact that there even is a 2nd most popular mobile OS proves that Apple doesn't have a monopoly.

That doesn't make it any easier for people who have iPhones but can't install your app because your app is incompatible with whatever Apple demands. Trust me, most people who buy iPhones are completely oblivious to the app store rules and review process.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#166
post #108

Apple collects the rent from the apps that exist withn their walled garden. Epic employs behavioural specialists tasked in making their games addictive and coerce user into spending with micro-transactions. I do not want to take a side in this fight.

>Epic employs behavioural specialists tasked in making their games addictive and coerce user into spending with micro-transactions. Epic also has their own game store that they will happily charge 30% once they have more marketshare. They also want to be able to put their own game store on iOS.

>that they will happily charge 30% once they have more marketshare.

I don't know. They haven't done as much with UE or any other tools, outside of actually charging for non-games (I'm honestly surprised that the Mandelorian was able to be made with no kick back to Epic at all).

Historically Epic has been relatively lenient for how it taxes developers. Say what you want about Sweeny and Fortnite and the Games Store, but I can definitely tell he still takes pride and empathizes with being in the gamedev trenches once upon a time. Can't say that about too many other gaming execs of today.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is 30% reasonable?

Would the iPhone be as successful if it wasn't reasonable?

Well the iPhone is a worse device than a flagship android already, so I think it would still remain popular because of the fashion aspect of being an apple user

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do have competition. Most phones aren't iPhones.

The relevant market is iOS app distribution, not smartphones.

There isn't a public market for iOS app distribution, and I don't see how you can force a business to create a public market inside its own products, or call it a monopoly when it doesn't. Does Disneyworld have a monopoly on food carts within its park?

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is 30% reasonable?

Would the iPhone be as successful if it wasn't reasonable?

That seems like a false dichotomy. Anyway, it's unprovable either true or false, because no evidence exists.

Let's just assert that it's false, then. Let's say 30% is unreasonable, and that iPhones would be as successful even with yet more unreasonable developer fees.

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