Apple's true aim to tolerate billin...
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Apple's true aim to tolerate billing methods outside the App Store and soften its attitude
US Apple is shaken by the payment fee problem of the App Store. From August to September 2021, the company announced new initiatives for its App Store. Of particular note is the fact that some genres of apps have been allowed to provide information on payment methods other than the App Store and to set up links to websites where billing is available. What is the aim of Apple, which has begun to show a flexible attitude toward billing?
Clearly allow the provision of billing methods outside the app
In 2020, the popular game "Fort Knight" of the US Epic Games was deleted from the App Store etc. by introducing its own payment system, and it developed into a litigation battle. This has brought a lot of attention to the issue of payment fees on the App Store. For Apple, which has not shown a stance of reviewing the fee of 30% of the in-app purchase amount for many years, not only app developers such as Epic Games but also governments of each country concerned about market oligopoly by platformers will make a big move. It was like that.
In response to such a situation, Apple started the "App Store Small Business Program" in December 2020. The App Store fee has been reduced from 30% to 15% for small and medium-sized developers with app sales of less than $ 1 million. In addition, from the end of August to September 2021, Apple has launched some new measures on the fee issue.
One of them is to proceed with seven efforts regarding the App Store on August 26, 2021 as a measure to resolve a class action proceeding against Apple by a US developer. These include continuing the App Store Small Business Program for at least three years, increasing the price points for paid apps from less than 100 to over 500, and giving them more flexibility in pricing. .. Perhaps the most notable of these was the mention of billing methods other than the App Store.
"App Store Small Business Program" is a program for small and medium-sized developers that reduces the App Store fee to 15%. Announced on August 26, 2021, it will be available for at least 3 years (Source: Apple) [Click image to enlarge]Apps delivered on the App Store are required to use in-app purchases provided by the App Store. Fortnite was removed because it introduced its own billing method within the app. However, in reality, major content distribution services such as "Spotify", "Netflix", and "Kindle" are distributed on the App Store after contracting and charging on their website to avoid fees due to in-app purchases. It has a mechanism to view the content using the application.
It has not been very clear until now how much Apple accepts such billing methods, but in this Apple announcement, "Apple is a payment method other than iOS applications that developers use communication such as email. We also make it clear that we can share information about. " It's a huge change for Apple to allow out-of-app billing and explicitly state that it's okay to tell customers about it.
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