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I mean, the obvious answer here is that Apple needs to offer companies a reasonable revenue split (like, 5% or something) for these recurring subscription scena

I mean, the obvious answer here is that Apple needs to offer companies a reasonable revenue split (like, 5% or something) for these recurring subscription scenarios where it’s obvious Apple did nothing to drum up the business and is purely functioning as a (very convenient, admittedly) credit card processor.

mikehearn 5y ago
You say "Apple did nothing", but the only way a company would be paying a 30% commission to Apple is if the user's initial sign-up came through their platform. In that situation, maybe the user would have eventually signed up through a different platform, and the company could have been directly paid 100% of the price. But it's also possible that the user would simply never have signed up, in which case Apple's 30% cut would look like a steal compared to the alternative (receiving nothing).
- yyyk 5y ago
  The same 'logic' could justify a 95% cut.
  - thies226j 5y ago
    No it wouldn’t, because cost would probably exceed revenue in that case.
- ksec 5y ago
  >Apple is if the user's initial sign-up came through their platform Which is an admission that Apple is rent seeking.
simondotau 5y ago
What about transactions that weren't made directly with a credit card, but rather with an Apple Store gift card purchased from a physical retailer? Possibly during a 20% off sale? Even if you elide any such discounting, Apple's transactional cost is going to be far, far higher than 5%. I doubt there's any publicly available hard data around the costs of running the gift card ecosystem, but a number between 15 and 35 percent would not surprise me at all.
- mikepurvis 5y ago
  On the contrary, it's super profitable since loads of them are never spent or only partially spent, to the tune of $3B/yr: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/24/how-amazon-and-walmart-make-money-from-unused-gift-cards.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/24/how-amazon-and-walmart-make-...

mikehearn 5y ago

You say "Apple did nothing", but the only way a company would be paying a 30% commission to Apple is if the user's initial sign-up came through their platform. In that situation, maybe the user would have eventually signed up through a different platform, and the company could have been directly paid 100% of the price. But it's also possible that the user would simply never have signed up, in which case Apple's 30% cut would look like a steal compared to the alternative (receiving nothing).

yyyk 5y ago
The same 'logic' could justify a 95% cut.
- thies226j 5y ago
  No it wouldn’t, because cost would probably exceed revenue in that case.
ksec 5y ago
>Apple is if the user's initial sign-up came through their platform Which is an admission that Apple is rent seeking.

simondotau 5y ago

What about transactions that weren't made directly with a credit card, but rather with an Apple Store gift card purchased from a physical retailer? Possibly during a 20% off sale? Even if you elide any such discounting, Apple's transactional cost is going to be far, far higher than 5%. I doubt there's any publicly available hard data around the costs of running the gift card ecosystem, but a number between 15 and 35 percent would not surprise me at all.

mikepurvis 5y ago
On the contrary, it's super profitable since loads of them are never spent or only partially spent, to the tune of $3B/yr: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/24/how-amazon-and-walmart-make-money-from-unused-gift-cards.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/24/how-amazon-and-walmart-make-...