3 ms·

This has nothing to do with a company's ability to price differently on other platforms or their website, and there is significant evidence that shows apps allo

This has nothing to do with a company's ability to price differently on other platforms or their website, and there is significant evidence that shows apps allowed onto the app store with more expensive purchase price, subscription price, and IAP price.

gsich 6y ago
But it is. Take Spotify. You can't pay for that in the app. If they could charge more, they would. But they aren't allowed, so they discontinued IAP alltogether.
- georgespencer 6y ago
  Spotify did charge more, for years, in iOS. Epic charged more for their coins in iOS than elsewhere, too. Can you point to a specific policy change or news article which supports your argument? You're saying "could" and "would" but the actual evidence is that they did.
  - gsich 6y ago
    And now they don't anymore. Already linked it: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines
    - georgespencer 6y ago
      I linked this and have read it. Where exactly does it preclude apps from charging differential pricing on subscriptions?
      - gsich 6y ago
        >must not discourage use of in-app purchase.
        georgespencer 6y ago
        You seem to be doing real contortions to try to make this fit your argument, but it doesn't. Here's another easy disproof: YouTube Premium costs £11.99 on the YouTube website, and £15.99 IAP on the iOS app store right now. The section you quote is entirely related to communication within the app. It is Apple saying that there is no option to either directly or indirectly push users towards your own payment methods with text or calls to action in your app. Your argument seems to be that Apple would consider Spotify pricing at $12.99 within the app as somehow "indirectly" pushing users towards other payment options elsewhere when they have $9.99 on their website. Is that right? Don't you think that offering no means to subscribe in-app -- which means all new users have to seek out the subscription option on Spotify's website -- is a more aggressive way of pushing users out of the app than offering a $12.99 subscription in-app and a $9.99 option on the website? But in any case: Spotify for years did charge $12.99 in its app and $9.99 on the web. There are multiple[1] instances[2] of[3] users[4] being confused by this and complaining on Spotify's community support pages. Spotify's anti-trust website[5] -- where they note anything and everything Apple has done to put what they feel to be unfair pressure on them regarding pricing and IAP options -- has this to say about the situation: > So, we give IAP a try. That means we are now charged Apple's 30% tax and sadly have to increase our price for our fans > Our users will finally be able to buy a Premium subscription directly through our iOS app. But it also means we have to raise our prices to €12.99 a month. And you guys were rightly not very happy about this They go on to say: > We opt out of Apple's payment system and the artificially uncompetitive price we had to charge for using it > Because we turn off IAP, it means you can no longer upgrade to Premium through the App Store So to be clear: there was no policy change in 2016 when Spotify disabled IAPs. They did it under their own steam. YouTube and others persist with charging more for IAPs. Epic did it right up until they implemented their own IAP system and got booted off. There are many, many good reasons to dislike Apple regarding the app store. You are doing gymnastics to invent a totally new one. If you want to keep discussing this and don't want to look silly, my suggestion is that you offer direct corroboration of your claim. Try looking for a news article about a developer being told they cannot charge more on iOS than they do on their website, or an announcement of a policy change from Apple. [1] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/12-99-iphone-charge-and-multiple-devices/td-p/865851 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/12-99-iphone-charg... [2] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Charged-12-99-not-the-advertised-9-99/td-p/864291 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Charged-12-99-not-... [3] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Why-am-I-charged-12-99-through-iTunes-instead-of-9-99-for/td-p/1405759 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Why-am-I-charged-1... [4] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Been-Paying-12-99-A-Month-For-3-Years-Spotify-Charging-9-99-For/td-p/1383623 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Been-Paying-12-99-... [5] https://www.timetoplayfair.com/timeline/ https://www.timetoplayfair.com/timeline/

gsich 6y ago

But it is. Take Spotify. You can't pay for that in the app. If they could charge more, they would. But they aren't allowed, so they discontinued IAP alltogether.

georgespencer 6y ago
Spotify did charge more, for years, in iOS. Epic charged more for their coins in iOS than elsewhere, too. Can you point to a specific policy change or news article which supports your argument? You're saying "could" and "would" but the actual evidence is that they did.
- gsich 6y ago
  And now they don't anymore. Already linked it: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines
  - georgespencer 6y ago
    I linked this and have read it. Where exactly does it preclude apps from charging differential pricing on subscriptions?
    - gsich 6y ago
      >must not discourage use of in-app purchase.
      - georgespencer 6y ago
        You seem to be doing real contortions to try to make this fit your argument, but it doesn't. Here's another easy disproof: YouTube Premium costs £11.99 on the YouTube website, and £15.99 IAP on the iOS app store right now. The section you quote is entirely related to communication within the app. It is Apple saying that there is no option to either directly or indirectly push users towards your own payment methods with text or calls to action in your app. Your argument seems to be that Apple would consider Spotify pricing at $12.99 within the app as somehow "indirectly" pushing users towards other payment options elsewhere when they have $9.99 on their website. Is that right? Don't you think that offering no means to subscribe in-app -- which means all new users have to seek out the subscription option on Spotify's website -- is a more aggressive way of pushing users out of the app than offering a $12.99 subscription in-app and a $9.99 option on the website? But in any case: Spotify for years did charge $12.99 in its app and $9.99 on the web. There are multiple[1] instances[2] of[3] users[4] being confused by this and complaining on Spotify's community support pages. Spotify's anti-trust website[5] -- where they note anything and everything Apple has done to put what they feel to be unfair pressure on them regarding pricing and IAP options -- has this to say about the situation: > So, we give IAP a try. That means we are now charged Apple's 30% tax and sadly have to increase our price for our fans > Our users will finally be able to buy a Premium subscription directly through our iOS app. But it also means we have to raise our prices to €12.99 a month. And you guys were rightly not very happy about this They go on to say: > We opt out of Apple's payment system and the artificially uncompetitive price we had to charge for using it > Because we turn off IAP, it means you can no longer upgrade to Premium through the App Store So to be clear: there was no policy change in 2016 when Spotify disabled IAPs. They did it under their own steam. YouTube and others persist with charging more for IAPs. Epic did it right up until they implemented their own IAP system and got booted off. There are many, many good reasons to dislike Apple regarding the app store. You are doing gymnastics to invent a totally new one. If you want to keep discussing this and don't want to look silly, my suggestion is that you offer direct corroboration of your claim. Try looking for a news article about a developer being told they cannot charge more on iOS than they do on their website, or an announcement of a policy change from Apple. [1] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/12-99-iphone-charge-and-multiple-devices/td-p/865851 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/12-99-iphone-charg... [2] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Charged-12-99-not-the-advertised-9-99/td-p/864291 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Charged-12-99-not-... [3] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Why-am-I-charged-12-99-through-iTunes-instead-of-9-99-for/td-p/1405759 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Why-am-I-charged-1... [4] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Been-Paying-12-99-A-Month-For-3-Years-Spotify-Charging-9-99-For/td-p/1383623 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/Been-Paying-12-99-... [5] https://www.timetoplayfair.com/timeline/ https://www.timetoplayfair.com/timeline/