Finally. This is exactly how regulators should respond to the market abuse of these technology monopolies. If they wanted to head this off all they had to do was pay a reasonable amount of tax in the country where the revenue was generated and offer a reasonable (single percentage) fee for facilitating payments. They chose not to so they reap what they sow
What regulators should mostly do is provide rulings in 2 weeks. Monopoly lawsuits have been threatening for 5 years and are still in limbo, our entire West is in threadlock: Slow justice, slow regulators, slow administrations, fast market grabs…
Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
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Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#42Is there a better source and the text of the law ? Payment systems are a proxy for the fee since there isn't an explicit publishing fee. It would be quite straightforward for both Apple and Google to charge a publishing fee, which may end up close to the current rent. The larger issue is that there aren't alternative app stores. Apple doesn't allow them at all, and Google severely restricts them at the technical and…
I'm not trying to portrait Google as innocent, there's still work to be done. But they are absolutely in different leagues with Apple when it comes to user freedom.
Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not exactly a publishing fee, but today you have to pay Apple $99/year to distribute software into Apple’s ecosystem; otherwise they’ll hide your application behind a non-obvious ctrl+click+run flow. To my knowledge, this fee is collected regardless of your distribution channel. I wouldn’t call $99/year “not paying.”
The $99/year gives you additional developer tools and access to the App Store storefront. It's up to Apple what constitutes a sufficient license fee for the commercial use of Apple's proprietary software libraries. Apple's libraries are licensed to developers under whatever license Apple chooses. They could require a certain revenue share regardless of which payment gateway is used. Heck, they could license it under…
Well, until the regulators step in (again).
Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#44Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not exactly a publishing fee, but today you have to pay Apple $99/year to distribute software into Apple’s ecosystem; otherwise they’ll hide your application behind a non-obvious ctrl+click+run flow. To my knowledge, this fee is collected regardless of your distribution channel. I wouldn’t call $99/year “not paying.”
The $99/year gives you additional developer tools and access to the App Store storefront. It's up to Apple what constitutes a sufficient license fee for the commercial use of Apple's proprietary software libraries. Apple's libraries are licensed to developers under whatever license Apple chooses. They could require a certain revenue share regardless of which payment gateway is used. Heck, they could license it under…
Interestingly, the $99/year fee is to access the app store, but there's a a $299/year fee to bypass the appstore.
https://developer.apple.com/support/enrollment/ notes: The Apple Developer Program annual fee is 99 USD and the Apple Developer Enterprise Program annual fee is 299 USD
Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#46Finally. This is exactly how regulators should respond to the market abuse of these technology monopolies. If they wanted to head this off all they had to do was pay a reasonable amount of tax in the country where the revenue was generated and offer a reasonable (single percentage) fee for facilitating payments. They chose not to so they reap what they sow
What regulators should mostly do is provide rulings in 2 weeks. Monopoly lawsuits have been threatening for 5 years and are still in limbo, our entire West is in threadlock: Slow justice, slow regulators, slow administrations, fast market grabs…
In hindsight, the correct time for regulation was probably 2008 for Google (DoubleClick purchase and Android shipping with "Android Market") and Apple (App Store).
It should have been a clear line from hardware control -> distribution control. And if regulators hadn't seen it, then Congress should have drawn it for them in updated laws.
Unfortunately, the world had a bit more going on that year.
Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#47When the EU does the same things will turn for real.
and they can, because there's not a single EU company with an app store to harm. App stores are designed for profit, not simply for our convenience. Imagine a government forcing AirBnb to let people pay hand to hand to the owner of the apartment. It's the same issue, right?
Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
and they can, because there's not a single EU company with an app store to harm. App stores are designed for profit, not simply for our convenience. Imagine a government forcing AirBnb to let people pay hand to hand to the owner of the apartment. It's the same issue, right?
No it is not the same issue. Airbnb doesn't have a say if I make arrangements of my own with the host. We lose the benefits and security provided by airbnb if we think that airbnb's cut is unjustified. I only wish we (users and devs) could do that on Ios.
Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#49Finally. This is exactly how regulators should respond to the market abuse of these technology monopolies. If they wanted to head this off all they had to do was pay a reasonable amount of tax in the country where the revenue was generated and offer a reasonable (single percentage) fee for facilitating payments. They chose not to so they reap what they sow
It's going to be a hell for the users and the smaller developers. Devs will have to support multiple platforms, different API and options. Also different legal arrangements would be needed as each country has different laws and processes. Remember the agreements and forms we fill for different countries when we want to sell paid apps/features on App Store? I also can't wait to pay account fees for many app stores and…
Re: Apple and Google must allow other in-app payment systems, Korean law declares
#50Finally. This is exactly how regulators should respond to the market abuse of these technology monopolies. If they wanted to head this off all they had to do was pay a reasonable amount of tax in the country where the revenue was generated and offer a reasonable (single percentage) fee for facilitating payments. They chose not to so they reap what they sow
It's going to be a hell for the users and the smaller developers. Devs will have to support multiple platforms, different API and options. Also different legal arrangements would be needed as each country has different laws and processes. Remember the agreements and forms we fill for different countries when we want to sell paid apps/features on App Store? I also can't wait to pay account fees for many app stores and…