7 ms·
How long until they make the argument that they're entitled to 30% of your salary because you use Apple hardware to do your work?
by supernes 8mo ago
How long until they make the argument that they're entitled to 30% of your salary because you use Apple hardware to do your work?
- lostlogin 8mo agoHilarious how this is more than my tax rate. My tax rate gets education, healthcare, policing, etc etc.
- high_na_euv 8mo agoOn the other side Apple gets money, so they can make *whole* world better, not just your country. Think about how many lives were improved just by M* CPUs or Siri /s
- lostlogin 8mo ago> Think about how many lives were improved just by M* CPUs or Siri But these were paid for by the hardware purchase.
- steve1977 8mo agoOh but you do get policing...
- charcircuit 8mo agoLook at how many different APIs you get as a developer on iOS.
- alibarber 8mo agoFeels more like a sales tax (VAT) though, which is the same for everyone.
- oneeyedpigeon 8mo agoExactly, not even a progressive tax!
- PunchyHamster 8mo agodont give Apple any ideas!
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- pavlov 8mo agoThey must be looking at the revenue Claude Code is making on Mac and thinking “Why aren’t we getting 30% of that?” Wouldn’t be surprised if macOS starts locking down CLI tools towards an App Store model too.
- spacebanana7 8mo agoDevelopers are a tricky market for this because they could realistically move to different platforms if stuff like this started to happen. Or at least work on remote machines. If gaming on Macs ever became popular though this would be a real risk.
- surgical_fire 8mo agoApple fans on the other hand are not a tricky market. They swallow whatever Apple gives them. It doesn't matter if they are developers or not.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- OtherShrezzing 8mo agoI'm not sure Claude Code is making enough for Apple to take notice & drastically alter their CLI like that? CC has 100-150k users across all platforms, paying $200-1200/yr each. Even if every developer is on the top tier Max plan, and on MacOS, that's $180mn in revenue at Anthropic. So even in the most optimistic scenario, that's only ~$50mn revenue for Apple at a 30% take. That pales in comparison to the hardware & subscription revenues Apple brings in by being a dev-friendly OS.
- lnenad 8mo agoSource for the numbers? I am asking since Anthropic's revenue is 5+ billions, I'm guessing it's mostly from developers.
- YetAnotherNick 8mo ago
- amelius 8mo agoThey certainly would if they could.
- spacebanana7 8mo agoYou joke, but legally they could. If game engines can charge a licence fee as a % of revenue from games developed on those engines, then legally there's not much to stop apple doing the same. Of course consumers and enterprises wouldn't tolerate it, but the barrier is commercial rather than legal.
- hahahahhaah 8mo agoGuess it is no different than Docker Desktop charging based on your revenue. The idea being charging based on some second order.
- willtemperley 8mo ago[flagged]
- Wazako 8mo agoWhat is absurd is finding yourself paying 30% on every digital item purchased on a smartphone app. It would never even occur to us that Microsoft takes a 30% margin on Steam, yet that is what happens on webtoon apps.
- willtemperley 8mo agoMicrosoft don't really have an equivalent to iOS so let's compare oranges to oranges: macOS vs Windows. On macOS, Apple don't take a 30% cut on Steam purchases. Steam take 30% however. There's a big difference - when you develop an app for iOS or macOS, using Apple's APIs, platform and app store tech, it's reasonable to pay Apple something and they legally can charge. I don't actually have an opinion on whether 30% or 15% is too much or not. It's factually wrong or illogical arguments that bother me: how can we fight anything when the arguments are just nonsensical. Apple make plenty of user-hostile decisions, but people need to criticise them reasonably, otherwise they will be ignored by those that might have the influence to change things for the better.
- 8mo ago
- plufz 8mo agoBut what about my banking app! I think it’s only fair Apple take 30% on every transaction I make. After all they put in a huge amount of work validating and making sure my banking app is safe and functional. Edit: Maybe I am greedy now, but it would be nice if large transactions like say buying a house only would cost me a 15% transaction fee to Apple.
- conductr 8mo agoLarge transactions are riskier, let’s give them 45%. After all, I’d really hate to see their margins suffer.
- teaearlgraycold 8mo agoI worry about their finances
- ChrisRR 8mo agoWho's downvoting this? When you think online sarcasm is so obvious that no-one could believe it, someone's always there to prove otherwise
- krior 8mo agoMaybe because its not really contributing anything new to the discussion?
- Gabrys1 8mo agoVisa/Mastercard take like 1 or 2%. That's why they cannot compare to Apple...
- bluescrn 8mo agoIf they tried to take significantly more, cash would be a lot more popular. Yet Apple can get away with taking 30% and companies still accept this and push their apps rather than websites.
- pjmlp 8mo agoIt made sense in the early days, phone operators were charging up to 90% for the infrastucture to send an SMS, and get a download link to a J2ME/Windows CE/Pocket PC/Symbian/Palm/Blackberry download link to install the app. So everyone raced to the iOS app store, it was only 30%, what a great deal! The problem is that two decades later it is no longer that great deal in mobile duopoly world.
- NoBeardMarch 8mo agoIt's kind of interesting that while the structure is largely the same, the underlying behaviour/intent has morphed from a disruptor-model into being toxic rent-seeking behaviour.
- StopDisinfo910 8mo agoAll the regulators in the world have their sights set on them and they know it. The light is half on already and the music is slowing. This party is soon to be over. It's a last ditch attempt at milking all they can.
- anonzzzies 8mo ago30% of my yearly unrealised gains would be fair.
- g947o 8mo ago30% of profit from stock sales initiated on Apple hardware should automatically go to Apple. Because why not. It's a digital sale, there is no physical goods changing hands. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. /s
- bsza 8mo agoIsn't it strictly worse that they're already thinking they're entitled to 30% of your salary because your clients use Apple hardware? You can change what you use, you can't change what they use.
- account42 8mo agoThat's of course on top of the 30% they take on things you buy using your salary via Apple devices.
- black_puppydog 8mo agoand the 30% they take from the things you sell via apple devices, once your work is done.
- SwtCyber 8mo agoHonestly that joke is uncomfortably close to how the logic already works...
- jsheard 8mo agoCome on, if you work on a MacBook then Tim Apple deserves at least one of your kidneys. It's only fair.
- robshippr 8mo agoDon't give them any ideas haha
- kkukshtel 8mo agoStuff like this is ironic but I do think it's escape hatches like this that will make these tech companies, if they ever go down, go down kicking and screaming. Any platform holder that ever finds themselves in a bad place financially will 100% pull all the levers like this.
- m463 8mo agoDon't worry, they're ethical because interns will only pay 15%.
- gdevenyi 8mo agoThey already do if you're always buying a new apple product