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The answer is simple. Uber, Lyft, and everyone else, should have different pricing on Android and iPhone. For something that costs $10 on Android, charge $13
by DaveExeter 5y ago
The answer is simple. Uber, Lyft, and everyone else, should have different pricing on Android and iPhone.
For something that costs $10 on Android, charge $13 for iPhone.
This is a win-win solution. The app companies get more money and Apple gets positioning as a premium brand.
- supreme_berry 5y ago
- post_break 5y agoI disagree. I think Apple should get nothing from them. The rent seeking has to stop. Anything with a service fee should be outside their grasp. The product isn’t the app, it’s the service.
- DaveExeter 5y agoI tend to agree with you, but Apple doesn't want to leave that pile of Benjamins on the table! And AFAIK, what Apple is doing is legal. There should be the iPhone price and the Android price. Just charge iPhone users more.
- post_break 5y agoApple should not be entitled to any transaction that happens on the phone. They don't get a cut of money I move through my banks app. Anything I buy on the Amazon app. Do they get 30% of my water bill I pay? Again if something is being bought through the app store, like a game, an app, etc sure. But if your app is about a service that exists completely beyond apple, they should get nothing. Imagine comcast asking for 30% because it happened between your internet provider and an online store.
- colinmhayes 5y agoExcept that just means they'll get less subscribers. The margins on these things are razor thin. If people don't think they're getting a deal they won't sign up.
- DaveExeter 5y agoThe iPhone is a premium phone. I don't think most iPhone users would balk at paying 30% more.
- colinmhayes 5y agoI have an iPhone and I certainly would.
- xboxnolifes 5y agoThe iPhone is the most common phone in the US. I don't think the majority of the US is price insensitive.
- hackmiester 5y agoCompared to what, Fisher Price? The entry level iPhone is $400, with refurbs lower, and even new units are often available free on contract with a carrier in the US.
- DaveExeter 5y agoI just got a new Moto G phone, with one year of service, for ~$100. The thing is incredible. I am not sure what $400 for an iPhone gets me. Other then Airtags. I might get a cheap used iPhone just for Airtags.
- tagoregrtst 5y agoI only buy iPhones because I’m price sensitive. Right now, Im on an iPhone SE 1st gen I bought in 2016 for $400. Still runs well, and Im on the latest iOS. (However, I agree with your statement generally. I believe that globally the iPhone is a premium phone)
- 015a 5y agoThis is such a bullshit argument nowadays. There are an estimated 113 million iPhone users in the United States [1]. That's ~half of the smartphone market, and ~half of the number of adults in the US. Apple sells brand new iPhones starting at $400. Samsung sells brand new Galaxy phones at base storage starting at $1800. Apple's best selling main-line product in 2021 was not the iPhone. Not Mac. Not the Watch or iPad. It was Airpods. Normal Airpods, not even the Pros. The cheapest product to ever be graced with a top-page tab on apple.com, Apple sells tens of millions more Airpods than iPhones. And why wouldn't they? They're cheap! Because, hate to break it, but Apple isn't a premium brand; they're just a brand. The iPhone is about as premium a smartphone as Target is a premium store, and this notion that Apple still exclusively services the premium segment probably comes from some combination of Apple users wishing they were rich & special, and even Android users looking to play the everyman victim. None of that is valid. But it gets applied to justify Apple's unprecedented control & tax over commerce on their platform; its alright because it only impacts rich people, if you want access to the rich people you gotta charge the rich people more, and make the rich gatekeeper even richer. In reality, all it serves to do is make everyone poorer; it serves to limit affordable access to goods and services; and it makes Apple rich. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/232790/forecast-of-apple-users-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/232790/forecast-of-apple...
- upbeat_general 5y agoMy understanding was that Apps aren't allowed to do this.
- WHA8m 5y agoTo my knowledge you are allowed to do so, but aren't allowed to tell people that it's cheaper somewhere else. I don't know how this works in practice though
- casion 5y agoMath is off here. It'd be $10 on android and $14.29 on iPhone to break even.
- Ekaros 5y agoMake it even 15$... For the real premium feel.
- throw_m239339 5y ago> The answer is simple. Uber, Lyft, and everyone else, should have different pricing on Android and iPhone. Apple will not let you do that at first place. It's against their guidelines and apps that do that and get caught get the boot.
- Thorrez 5y agoHuh, do you have a reference to the guideline that says that?
- spiffytech 5y agoOlder versions of the app review guidelines allowed apps that could access content sold outside the app store ("reader" apps) to dodge the app store commission if their in-app content was provided "at the same price or less than it is offered outside the app store" (formerly section 11.13 of the guidelines). Here's a 2011 article about Apple revising that policy: https://appleinsider.com/articles/11/06/09/apple_backs_down_on_in_app_purchasing_rules_allows_lower_prices_for_out_of_app_purchases https://appleinsider.com/articles/11/06/09/apple_backs_down_...
- Thorrez 5y agoHmm, I wonder if Uber/Lift could have a system where you either have an iOS account or an Android account. So then whatever you buy on Android wouldn't be transferrable to iOS. You could switch your account between the operating systems but your subscription wouldn't transfer.
- perfectstorm 5y agoactually you can do it as long as you don't mention about cheaper alternatives anywhere within the app.
- benhurmarcel 5y agoDropbox and Youtube Premium do it already.
- gscott 5y agoApple ecosystem users are rich and can afford it.
- benhurmarcel 5y agoWould be perfectly fine if they could inform the user about it.
- OrangeMusic 5y agoApps on the Google Play Store also pay the 30% fee for subscriptions.