this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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Not to mention, It isn't a given that they win.
I ANAL 😏 but in order to claim their fees are excessive, I'd expect that the plaintiffs would need to show that they are substantially higher than fees in other circumstances. I don't think 15-20% is unusual for other software stores, including the google play store which has a number of competitors on android, or steam on PC which also has a number of competitors on PC.
This seems to be the standard that all store fronts use. With maybe an exception on epic who purposefully went lower than the industry norm to try and excite game publishers to their storefront.
Just from some cursory googling - google and Apple are right in line. 30% with some drops into the 15% mark after time has passed in case of subscription payments.
Edit: have not been following this story but it seems like kind of an uphill battle. We know what the argument will be - it’s x percent but you’re using our product and infrastructure and we have to invest people and resources to verifying apps getting published.
Feels like the law suits that involve “allowing multiple app stores” had a higher chance of succeeding (though I have no idea the status of those lawsuits so maybe that’s already off the table)
If Apple wanted, they could allow developers to supply their own infrastructure. It would cost a lot less than 30% of the developer's gross revenue. Apple could also charge, say, ten thousand dollars per hour for the time the review team spends checking the app. That would also work out to astronomically less than 30% of the developer's gross revenue.
The App Store is a great service and Apple is entitled to collect a fee. But the amount they're charging is excessive. In a fair market with proper competition they could never get away with charging that much.
But you know it’s just not Apple right? This is standard rates at this point. No one was arguing against your point - but there is an industry high rate at play here.
That's doesn't make it right. It's excessive across the board should should be reduced.
Except Apple have no other way to distribute on iOS bar their store.
Just because it's the industry standard rate doesn't mean it's acceptable. It used to cost $0.25 to send an SMS and $1.25 to send an international SMS. Mobile data on international roaming used to cost $10 per megabyte.
Those were standard prices. That didn't make them "fair". Eventually various forces came into effect in and the prices dropped down to where they are now, which is often pretty close to free.
With the monopoly control Apple has over the App Store, it isn't possible for the natural market to push prices down to where they should be, which means the only way to get there is through lawsuits, regulation, fines, etc etc. This isn't the first lawsuit, and it won't be the last. Apple might win this battle but they're not going to win the war.
Ok? Agree? Not arguing against any of that.