Jun 22, 2020 14:00:00

Criticism focused on Apple's '30% margin in the App Store is outrageous' and 'narrows user's choice'

by

Glen Bledsoe

Jason Fried, CEO of the email service ' HEY ', which Apple refused to update on the App Store, saying 'I was offering a paid plan without going through the App Store', said 'CEO of Apple's App Store payment policy A signed statement entitled 'Opinions and Impact on Customer Relationships'.

Our CEO's take on Apple's App Store payment policies, and their impact on our relationship with our customers | HEY
https://hey.com/apple/iap/

Hey CEO responds to Apple, says App Store issue is about fundamental'lack of choice' that hurts customer relationships-9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/19/hey-email-app-responds-to-apple-fundamental-lack-of-choice/

Basecamp co-founder Fried and Chief Technology Officer David Heinemeier Hanson have rolled out their own paid email service, HEY, and registered their iOS app to the App Store. HEY set payments for paid plans to allow external payments using a credit card rather than in-app purchases via the App Store. However, Apple saw this as a violation of the rules and refused to approve the app update.

App is in danger of being deleted because it did not implement in-app purchase on the App Store-GIGAZINE

Regarding this agreement, it was pointed out that the application of guidelines is unequal, ``We are exempting in-app purchases from major companies such as Amazon and Netflix'', but Apple's worldwide marketing 'We are pleased to say that the results of the HEY examination are valid and we have no plans to withdraw,' said Philip Schiller, senior vice president in charge, and he said he was willing to refuse the update.

Paid apps that need to be purchased without Apple's payment system may be excluded from the App Store-GIGAZINE

If you choose in-app purchase, the vendor must pay Apple 30% of the in-app purchase sales. In response, Rep. David Sicilin said , ``It 's a small developer who has to choose between paying an exorbitant margin or giving up on the App Store, as if he were hit by a 30% street robbery. strongly with what is 'crushing criticism it was. The App Store has been repeatedly pointed out by Spotify and Rakuten that it 'violates the Antimonopoly Act', and the European Commission (EC) investigated with Apple Pay of the payment system on June 17, 2020. It is reported to have started.

European Commission begins investigation into Apple as ``App Store and Apple Pay violate antitrust law''-GIGAZINE

Friede acknowledges that the discussion so far has been about money, and that most of this issue is about money. 'Money is a grab on the headlines, but there's a more essential story. It's about 'lack of choice' and how Apple forces itself between the company and its customers. That is the point, and he points out the following two points.

1:
When a user purchases a service or product through the App Store, that customer is essentially an Apple customer. The user pays Apple, and Apple pays the developer of the app. Users who have been good customers for years have become Apple's customers, so the vendor must pay Apple 30%.

2:
Support and campaigns such as refunds, credit card changes, discounts, extended usage periods, exception handling, compensation, partial payments, non-profit discounts, academic plans, etc. as long as you interact with customers through Apple's platform Cannot be done to the user.

CEO Fried said, 'Apple's rules prevent us from serving our customers, and Apple only gives us the choice of following the cumbersome rules or not joining their platform. It's completely hostile to us, our customers, our communities.'

Also, even if customers inquire about payment, the vendor has no choice but to send the message 'Please contact Apple.' CEO Fried admits that the message 'Please contact Apple' is a small response, and that there was a scene where the vendor who actually responded in such a way was abused by customers as fraud or a thief.

For example, suppose you register for HEY's service on your iPhone, pay with Apple's in-app purchase system, and then switch to an Android device. In this case, since the payment information is registered with Apple, it is impossible to update the credit card from the Android HEY application. As a result, Fried insists that when subscriptions to a service are tied to a single platform, they often get stuck.

``In-app purchases are certainly a relatively simple purchase flow, but they're the most hostile given the big picture of customer relationships,'' Fried said. He strongly criticized the vendor for narrowing the choice.