6 ms·

Apple made ProtonMail add in-app purchases, had been free for years

128 points by pmcollins 6y ago

ab_testing 6y ago
At this point all the large companies have already cut deals with Apple. If you are a small player or a startup, just think that all your purchases will need to go through the IAP and 30% of that belongs to Apple. If you model your business and cash flow with that in mind, they you be in a much better position to continue doing business on Apple devices . If you think that your business will not be profitable giving 30% to Apple , then shut it down now and rethink it - because your customers will be on Apple devices and sooner or later - Apple will force you to include IAP.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- teruakohatu 6y ago
  15 years ago if you told me Nokia would get 30% of your cable TV, newspaper, file storage, music, book, software and video gaming spending I would have laughed. Yet this is the reality we find ourselves in today.
  - wodenokoto 6y ago
    Back then we thought it would be the carriers that would be the arbiter of mobile services and not the handset manufacturers. I remember, before the iPhone, 3 was selling unlimited YouTube streaming (amongst other 3rd party web services) over 3G for a fixed price in at least some European markets. The major carriers in Japan were already arbitering all sorts of services through each carriers own version of the World Wide Web. Back then, Japans mobile market was seen as being maybe a decade ahead of the rest of the world.
gbourne 6y ago
Yen says it’s strange that Apple’s actual written rules aren’t as clearly defined as what I’m telling him, and that he doesn’t trust the rules in general: Apple originally justified blocking the app because of an obscure rule that apps shouldn’t “include irrelevant information,” he says, and he believes that the results of app review are largely predetermined: “They made a decision, and then it’s just about pointing to the relevant passages of the rules to justify the decision they’ve already made.” I totally agree. I've built apps that have been rejected, gone through their review board, etc. and ended up never being allowed because of a rule that didn't even apply to us. On a call with the Apple reviewer, they stated, "it is a private store and we choose who will be on it." Kinda sums it up.
Zelizz 6y ago
This article is misleading. Apple doesn't let you make a free app that references a paid service outside the App Store, which is what ProtonMail was doing. If they allowed it, every app would be "free", they'd all make you go to their own websites to pay so they could bypass Apple's cut, and Apple would make no revenue from the store / hosting / curation / platform they provide.
- aaomidi 6y ago
  I guess windows should start banning installers and force everyone to go through the windows store. Hmm maybe epic and steam should be banned and just use the windows store. They provide the platform after all.
  - type0 6y ago
    They do and this could totally happen tomorrow. Window S is already a thing. All MS need to do is downgrade the editions once more.
  - Zelizz 6y ago
    The difference is that for installers, you've discovered and been distributed the software by an entity other than Microsoft, and you're not paying for the curation process. Consequently, it's easy to mess up a Windows system by running a random malicious installer. Microsoft also offers an app store, and even a way to restrict Windows to only running software from that app store (S mode), but they take the somewhat-standard 30%. One nice thing they do that I think Apple should adopt is taking a smaller cut if you visited the store through a web link (meaning Microsoft didn't provide the "discovery" and thus shouldn't be compensated for it).
    - aaomidi 6y ago
      Right so Apple is doing something I didn't ask of it to do, and then saying I'm not allowed to distribute and provide discovery for my own applications. And then charging me for it doing this. I don't mind Apple doing whatever they want with their own store, I have an issue with them dictating that their own store is the ONLY way to use an iPhone.

128 points by pmcollins 6y ago

At this point all the large companies have already cut deals with Apple. If you are a small player or a startup, just think that all your purchases will need to go through the IAP and 30% of that belongs to Apple. If you model your business and cash flow with that in mind, they you be in a much better position to continue doing business on Apple devices . If you think that your business will not be profitable giving 30% to Apple , then shut it down now and rethink it - because your customers will be on Apple devices and sooner or later - Apple will force you to include IAP.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
teruakohatu 6y ago
15 years ago if you told me Nokia would get 30% of your cable TV, newspaper, file storage, music, book, software and video gaming spending I would have laughed. Yet this is the reality we find ourselves in today.
- wodenokoto 6y ago
  Back then we thought it would be the carriers that would be the arbiter of mobile services and not the handset manufacturers. I remember, before the iPhone, 3 was selling unlimited YouTube streaming (amongst other 3rd party web services) over 3G for a fixed price in at least some European markets. The major carriers in Japan were already arbitering all sorts of services through each carriers own version of the World Wide Web. Back then, Japans mobile market was seen as being maybe a decade ahead of the rest of the world.

gbourne 6y ago

Yen says it’s strange that Apple’s actual written rules aren’t as clearly defined as what I’m telling him, and that he doesn’t trust the rules in general: Apple originally justified blocking the app because of an obscure rule that apps shouldn’t “include irrelevant information,” he says, and he believes that the results of app review are largely predetermined: “They made a decision, and then it’s just about pointing to the relevant passages of the rules to justify the decision they’ve already made.” I totally agree. I've built apps that have been rejected, gone through their review board, etc. and ended up never being allowed because of a rule that didn't even apply to us. On a call with the Apple reviewer, they stated, "it is a private store and we choose who will be on it." Kinda sums it up.

Zelizz 6y ago

This article is misleading. Apple doesn't let you make a free app that references a paid service outside the App Store, which is what ProtonMail was doing. If they allowed it, every app would be "free", they'd all make you go to their own websites to pay so they could bypass Apple's cut, and Apple would make no revenue from the store / hosting / curation / platform they provide.

aaomidi 6y ago
I guess windows should start banning installers and force everyone to go through the windows store. Hmm maybe epic and steam should be banned and just use the windows store. They provide the platform after all.
- type0 6y ago
  They do and this could totally happen tomorrow. Window S is already a thing. All MS need to do is downgrade the editions once more.
- Zelizz 6y ago
  The difference is that for installers, you've discovered and been distributed the software by an entity other than Microsoft, and you're not paying for the curation process. Consequently, it's easy to mess up a Windows system by running a random malicious installer. Microsoft also offers an app store, and even a way to restrict Windows to only running software from that app store (S mode), but they take the somewhat-standard 30%. One nice thing they do that I think Apple should adopt is taking a smaller cut if you visited the store through a web link (meaning Microsoft didn't provide the "discovery" and thus shouldn't be compensated for it).
  - aaomidi 6y ago
    Right so Apple is doing something I didn't ask of it to do, and then saying I'm not allowed to distribute and provide discovery for my own applications. And then charging me for it doing this. I don't mind Apple doing whatever they want with their own store, I have an issue with them dictating that their own store is the ONLY way to use an iPhone.