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I don't understand: Wouldn't Apple just remove their app from the app once they touch payments? Someone will be bitten by compliance, and if Telegram is able to

I don't understand: Wouldn't Apple just remove their app from the app once they touch payments? Someone will be bitten by compliance, and if Telegram is able to circumvent that then the bucket stops with Apple. This is what has stopped me from doing payment in my apps until now - you never know when some apple or google employee decides to smash you in the face with the ban hammer.

frabcus 9y ago
I don't really understand the Apple policy on payments. How come, for example, they don't demand their cut from Monzo person to person transfers?
- Sholmesy 9y ago
  That’s clearly different. Same question could be asked for any banking app.
- nihonde 9y ago
  Isn’t Apple only seeking a cut of sales of digital goods? You can sell physical merchandise like a real book, but you can’t sell an ebook without cutting them in.
  - weavie 9y ago
    I thought surely you can buy ebooks on the Kindle app for iOS. But a quick search and you are right - nope, you cannot buy books on the Kindle app for iOS. The option just isn't there.
    - jonknee 9y ago
      And you can't even present a link to purchase digital goods through a browser... You can open Mobile Safari and search Amazon for a Kindle book, but you can't use an Amazon app of any sort to do part of it.
      - baby 9y ago
        That part really blew my mind. I spent a good 20min trying to find out how to buy audiobooks on audible
      - tzahola 9y ago
        Weird, considering the fact that the Bandcamp app lets you buy music digitally via PayPal. Am I missing some important difference between the two?
        nihonde 9y ago
        They must be paying Apple their percentage of the proceeds, unless they have an exception.
        tzahola 9y ago
        I'm not sure. I've found this in the App Store Review Guidelines: >3.1.5 (a) Physical Goods and Services Outside of the App: If your app enables people to purchase goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app, you must use purchase methods other than in-app purchase to collect those payments, such as Apple Pay or traditional credit card entry. But if this applies to Bandcamp, then it would equally apply to Amazon... So I don't know.
        jonknee 9y ago
        I just downloaded Bandcamp for iOS and under Digital Album I see "Not available for purchase on this device" along with links to purchase the physical vinyl or CD.
        tzahola 9y ago
        Hm, you’re right. I didn’t notice it but the album I tried it was “digital download + limited edition print”... mea culpa.
rmc 9y ago
I suspect that once you get big enough, Apple is reluctant to touch you. Remember, Uber broken Apple's app rules, and were not banned, merely threatened[1]. If Apple removes the app, then who will people blame? The app or Apple? I suspect Telegram might be betting on that. [1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/04/24/ubers-kalanick-got-caught-tricking-apple-risking-expulsion-apple-store-report-says/100829796/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/04/24/ubers-ka...
- kayfox 9y ago
  Telegram still concedes to Apple. You cant join Telegram chats marked as NSFW on iOS devices.
  - pjc50 9y ago
    That's especially bonkers - you can't use it for private NSFW chat?
    - kgwgk 9y ago
      Probably this restriction is related to the “4+” age rating.
    - aceoflzlz 9y ago
      You can. He meant groups or channels whose raison d'être is the spread of pornography.
  - cordite 9y ago
    Yet you can with discord on iOS.
    - B4TMAN 9y ago
      weird
  - goshakkk 9y ago
    You can (for now?) do that with the official Telegram X app though (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/telegram-x/id898228810?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/telegram-x/id898228810?mt=8)
AJ007 9y ago
It is also opening them to regulation from a lot more than Apple. It is hard enough for a large tech company to deal with conflicting demands of various governments over privacy & censorship. Create a currency and now you can add financial demands as well. Why are they doing this? Because companies are raising vastly more money and at a faster speed than going the traditional VC or even IPO route right now. The strategy: Make up any reason and do it. I think the decentralized, semi-anonymous, open source development route can benefit from this approach better in the long term than a centralized for profit company can. Games may also end up being some of the biggest success stories. When you can actually prove that something is rare, and even potentially decentralize the gameplay, it presents interesting options for anti-cheating and proof of value. What is dumber: crypto kitties or con artists making hundreds of millions of dollars off sloppy copy and pasted documents?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
prostoalex 9y ago
Facebook Messenger supported peer-to-peer debit-card-backed payments for quite a bit now https://www.facebook.com/help/messenger-app/750020781733477/?helpref=hc_fnav https://www.facebook.com/help/messenger-app/750020781733477/...

frabcus 9y ago

I don't really understand the Apple policy on payments. How come, for example, they don't demand their cut from Monzo person to person transfers?

Sholmesy 9y ago
That’s clearly different. Same question could be asked for any banking app.
nihonde 9y ago
Isn’t Apple only seeking a cut of sales of digital goods? You can sell physical merchandise like a real book, but you can’t sell an ebook without cutting them in.
- weavie 9y ago
  I thought surely you can buy ebooks on the Kindle app for iOS. But a quick search and you are right - nope, you cannot buy books on the Kindle app for iOS. The option just isn't there.
  - jonknee 9y ago
    And you can't even present a link to purchase digital goods through a browser... You can open Mobile Safari and search Amazon for a Kindle book, but you can't use an Amazon app of any sort to do part of it.
    - baby 9y ago
      That part really blew my mind. I spent a good 20min trying to find out how to buy audiobooks on audible
    - tzahola 9y ago
      Weird, considering the fact that the Bandcamp app lets you buy music digitally via PayPal. Am I missing some important difference between the two?
      - nihonde 9y ago
        They must be paying Apple their percentage of the proceeds, unless they have an exception.
        tzahola 9y ago
        I'm not sure. I've found this in the App Store Review Guidelines: >3.1.5 (a) Physical Goods and Services Outside of the App: If your app enables people to purchase goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app, you must use purchase methods other than in-app purchase to collect those payments, such as Apple Pay or traditional credit card entry. But if this applies to Bandcamp, then it would equally apply to Amazon... So I don't know.
      - jonknee 9y ago
        I just downloaded Bandcamp for iOS and under Digital Album I see "Not available for purchase on this device" along with links to purchase the physical vinyl or CD.
        tzahola 9y ago
        Hm, you’re right. I didn’t notice it but the album I tried it was “digital download + limited edition print”... mea culpa.

rmc 9y ago

I suspect that once you get big enough, Apple is reluctant to touch you. Remember, Uber broken Apple's app rules, and were not banned, merely threatened[1]. If Apple removes the app, then who will people blame? The app or Apple? I suspect Telegram might be betting on that. [1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/04/24/ubers-kalanick-got-caught-tricking-apple-risking-expulsion-apple-store-report-says/100829796/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/04/24/ubers-ka...

kayfox 9y ago
Telegram still concedes to Apple. You cant join Telegram chats marked as NSFW on iOS devices.
- pjc50 9y ago
  That's especially bonkers - you can't use it for private NSFW chat?
  - kgwgk 9y ago
    Probably this restriction is related to the “4+” age rating.
  - aceoflzlz 9y ago
    You can. He meant groups or channels whose raison d'être is the spread of pornography.
- cordite 9y ago
  Yet you can with discord on iOS.
  - B4TMAN 9y ago
    weird
- goshakkk 9y ago
  You can (for now?) do that with the official Telegram X app though (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/telegram-x/id898228810?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/telegram-x/id898228810?mt=8)

AJ007 9y ago

It is also opening them to regulation from a lot more than Apple. It is hard enough for a large tech company to deal with conflicting demands of various governments over privacy & censorship. Create a currency and now you can add financial demands as well. Why are they doing this? Because companies are raising vastly more money and at a faster speed than going the traditional VC or even IPO route right now. The strategy: Make up any reason and do it. I think the decentralized, semi-anonymous, open source development route can benefit from this approach better in the long term than a centralized for profit company can. Games may also end up being some of the biggest success stories. When you can actually prove that something is rare, and even potentially decentralize the gameplay, it presents interesting options for anti-cheating and proof of value. What is dumber: crypto kitties or con artists making hundreds of millions of dollars off sloppy copy and pasted documents?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

prostoalex 9y ago

Facebook Messenger supported peer-to-peer debit-card-backed payments for quite a bit now https://www.facebook.com/help/messenger-app/750020781733477/?helpref=hc_fnav https://www.facebook.com/help/messenger-app/750020781733477/...