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It might be more because Epic is forcing their hand. Up to this point, Apple either just nudged smaller players or secretly negotiated deals with larger ones.

It might be more because Epic is forcing their hand. Up to this point, Apple either just nudged smaller players or secretly negotiated deals with larger ones. With Epic shining a light on this, Apple has to more blatantly enforce this across the board. Now, in a legal setting, Epic can't point out how inconsistent Apple is with this policy.

Hamuko 6y ago
Hey was before the Epic thing and that seemed like the start of the recent events.
caycep 6y ago
I wonder how much of this is Phil Schiller retiring and control of the App store passing onto to someone else?
kllrnohj 6y ago
> Now, in a legal setting, Epic can't point out how inconsistent Apple is with this policy. Well, except they can point at Amazon, who only pays a 15% cut: https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/20/21378156/apple-news-publishers-subscription-deal-app-store-cut-terms-amazon-letter https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/20/21378156/apple-news-publi...
- dwaite 6y ago
  For what it is worth, Apple _does_ have this arrangement with at least one other company. It is however a partnership deal with extremely specific terms: - The app must be a video subscription app (which can also provide purchases and rentals) - You must support iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS versions of the app - You must integrate into the Apple TV app and into Siri search and playback APIs - You must allow the user to subscribe through Apple, which will result in a 15% cut of the subscription fee (in this case, Apple gets 15% of the cost of Amazon Prime) - Additional purchases made against an apple-backed subscription must be in-app purchases, of which Apple gets a 15% cut (so renting a recent movie or subscribing to Showtime would result in a 15% revenue cut) - (AFAICT) Purchases/subscriptions/rentals against an account with existing billing information are not subject to any Apple revenue share - (AFAICT) Account management such as configuring or troubleshooting payment options for externally subscribed accounts must be outside of the app. I imagine Amazon suspects that they have enough people who have already purchased prime that the in-app purchase usage won't be a significant revenue drain - and I imagine that Apple has a contract with terms specifically to prevent Amazon "pulling an Epic" should it turn out that their assumption of subscription percentages be wrong.
jariel 6y ago
This is a very good point. If they are not seen to be applying their own rules consistently, it could actually give them legal trouble.

Hamuko 6y ago

Hey was before the Epic thing and that seemed like the start of the recent events.

caycep 6y ago

I wonder how much of this is Phil Schiller retiring and control of the App store passing onto to someone else?

kllrnohj 6y ago

> Now, in a legal setting, Epic can't point out how inconsistent Apple is with this policy. Well, except they can point at Amazon, who only pays a 15% cut: https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/20/21378156/apple-news-publishers-subscription-deal-app-store-cut-terms-amazon-letter https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/20/21378156/apple-news-publi...

dwaite 6y ago
For what it is worth, Apple _does_ have this arrangement with at least one other company. It is however a partnership deal with extremely specific terms: - The app must be a video subscription app (which can also provide purchases and rentals) - You must support iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS versions of the app - You must integrate into the Apple TV app and into Siri search and playback APIs - You must allow the user to subscribe through Apple, which will result in a 15% cut of the subscription fee (in this case, Apple gets 15% of the cost of Amazon Prime) - Additional purchases made against an apple-backed subscription must be in-app purchases, of which Apple gets a 15% cut (so renting a recent movie or subscribing to Showtime would result in a 15% revenue cut) - (AFAICT) Purchases/subscriptions/rentals against an account with existing billing information are not subject to any Apple revenue share - (AFAICT) Account management such as configuring or troubleshooting payment options for externally subscribed accounts must be outside of the app. I imagine Amazon suspects that they have enough people who have already purchased prime that the in-app purchase usage won't be a significant revenue drain - and I imagine that Apple has a contract with terms specifically to prevent Amazon "pulling an Epic" should it turn out that their assumption of subscription percentages be wrong.

jariel 6y ago

This is a very good point. If they are not seen to be applying their own rules consistently, it could actually give them legal trouble.