Apple’s response to the mandatory allowance of developers to utilize payment options outside of their App Store has been met with disdain from the tech community. Their actions have rightfully caused negative backlash as their demands far outweigh the little they are actually offering. It’s a clear indication that Apple is more concerned with maintaining their high cut of developer revenue than promoting fairness within their app marketplace.
Apple and Epic Games both filed an appeal against a previous verdict in favor of Apple but still required them to allow developers to redirect users to external websites for payments instead of keeping them confined to the App Store. Despite the Supreme Court refusing to intervene, Apple had no choice but to comply and make it possible for developers to charge users without using Apple’s existing systems.
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Unfortunately, Apple’s response leaves much to be desired. They have only reduced their demands by 3%, going from a 30% cut to 27% for payments made outside of the App Store. In essence, even if a user leaves Apple’s tightly controlled platform and makes a purchase from a different service that can be used within an app, Apple is still expecting a portion of the profits as long as the transaction occurs within a week.
Eric Seufert of Heracles Capital accurately described Apple’s actions as “heads I win, tails you lose,” highlighting the unbalanced nature of their offer to developers.
