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Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

macrumors.com

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Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#821

Post by Manuel_D »

eloisant wrote: post #808
Manuel_D wrote: post #755

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But competitors to Steam exist: Epic Games Store only takes a 12% cut. Publishers have an option to use other distributors but choose not to.

> Publishers have an option to use other distributors but choose not to They can choose to sell in the store where all users are, or in the store nobody goes.

Correct, but that means that publishers are choosing to distribute via Steam, despite the existence of other options, because Steam's superior features, user base, etc. justify paying that premium. They could distribute on Epic games, or even self-distribute like how Blizzard does, but they choose Steam.

It's not analogous to iOS that has no other options for distribution.

Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#823

Post by dwaite »

spacebanana7 wrote: post #246
supernes wrote: post #210

How long until they make the argument that they're entitled to 30% of your salary because you use Apple hardware to do your work?

You joke, but legally they could. If game engines can charge a licence fee as a % of revenue from games developed on those engines, then legally there's not much to stop apple doing the same. Of course consumers and enterprises wouldn't tolerate it, but the barrier is commercial rather than legal.

I've long believes that the requirement to use in-app purchasing was to make such revenue sharing easier to audit - if you can only use Apple's payment system to do certain things (or else your app isn't approved), then Apple doesn't have to worry about things like audits.

Since various countries have regulated the ability to do third party payments from apps, Apple has since added API to launch said payments, to help generate statistics on use so that they can then demand third party auditing that the commissions are still being properly paid.

In the US there was a court decision that they couldn't meter or charge commission, which may very well be walked back and will lead to lots of fun future articles.

Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#825

Post by slater »

hu3 wrote: post #824
HWR_14 wrote: post #285

4% of Patreon iOS users. That's how many use the legacy system Apple is insisting they remove. The other 96% already are using IAP.

Which makes it even more petty coming from Apple.

Money number must go up!

Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#826

Post by dlubarov »

odo1242 wrote: post #694
mcintyre1994 wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be surprised by that because iPhone users would notice that. I think the App Store model relies on their fee being invisible to consumers, and the increased price you’re paying not being linked to them. AFAIK apps aren’t allowed to explain that they charge more if you subscribe on iPhone to users either, or why they do so.

Apps are allowed to link to web services to offer payment as an alternative to IAPs and offer a discount for doing so, thanks to Apple v Epic.

While you're correct, it's worth noting that this only happened because the judge in the Epic lawsuit ordered an injunction forcing Apple to allow it.

Apple then "maliciously complied", allowing it while demanding a 27% fee on any web-based payments, which was found to be a violation of the injunction.

https://technologylaw.fkks.com/post/102ka4o/apple-violated-u...

Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#827

Post by siavosh »

jacquesm wrote: post #807
siavosh wrote: post #771

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the machine. The behavior is much larger than any CEO or even trillion dollar company.

The CEO could easily stop this.

And the board would replace them. It’s their fiduciary duty.

Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#828

Post by crabmusket »

silvestrov wrote: post #527
rob74 wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say that in the case of Patreon, any fee for Apple is unjustified. Apple can justify their fee on app purchases/subscriptions in the app store, but Patreon is not an app subscription, the money goes mostly from the patrons to the people they support. Ok, Patreon takes a cut to cover their operating costs, and also make a profit (not sure how profitable they are currently), but I really can't see how Apple, who do…

You could make the argument that Patreon isn't much more than a banking app. It just focuses on the receiver of the money than the sender. I think Apple is slowly killing apps with this policy. Everybody will slowly move to "web only" as 30% would kill their ability to compete with anybody else. This will likely be much stronger in countries where iPhones do not have the same market share as in the US.

Imagine seeing a popup banner in an app each time you open it that interrupts whatever you're trying to do to say "open on our website!"

(Apple's censorship notwithstanding)

Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#829

Post by dopamean »

siavosh wrote: post #827
jacquesm wrote: post #807

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CEO could easily stop this.

And the board would replace them. It’s their fiduciary duty.

The board could argue that it's damaging to the company's brand and long term bottom dollar to charge such usurious fees and fire the CEO for taking such a harsh stance with app developers.

Re: Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

#830

Post by GuinansEyebrows »

NewUser76312 wrote: post #785

I don't understand, doesn't the market solve these issues? Here's what I figure would happen: 1. App creators will pass the extra cost over to the iPhone users. 2. Android (and other platforms that can host smartphone apps) will be more competitive and start to look better for both app creators and consumers. Sure, there's a bit of a context switching cost. Not everyone will just be able to automatically change over…

Look, I’m not switching to an Android just because I want to subscribe to a few podcasts.
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