Yen also pointed out how such a court decision could help cut inflation in the US, too, “by dropping the price of a significant chunk of digital purchases by 30% overnight”.
I bet most companies will just take that extra 30% as profit rather than giving it back to their users like proton has.
Companies that were app-first like mobile games probably won’t cut prices much if any. Companies that were web-first like Proton and Patreon probably will.
Yep, product prices are not based on costs but rather just the absolute maximum of what consumers are willing to pay.
Proton just seems to be an exception.
Yeah, Proton is bucking the obvious trend, with this one. Most companies will totally take the profits rather than lowering prices.
Yeah, even of the companies don’t pocket the difference, he’s an idiot to suggest that this will cut inflation.
This guy is just not very smart, I think.
I think he’s a salesperson trying to sell the idea that getting rid of the apple tax is good for consumers.
getting rid of the apple tax is good for consumers.
I mean that’s not wrong. I had no idea Apple was double-dipping like this. I wonder if Google is doing the same thing…
Every store does this. Even Holy Valve
Every company who takes a cut from in-app purchases, be it subscriptions or DLC, should be kneecapped by this ruling.
It’s one thing for the hosting marketplace (App Store, Steam, Play Store, etc) to take a cut from the initial purchase of a game/app. But it’s a whole other issue for that initial marketplace to keep reaching further into the dev’s pockets and take a cut from in-app purchases unrelated to where it was originally obtained.
That just turns paid apps into splash screens for in-app purchases though. That way apple never gets a cut because the “purchase” is in-app. Pay to be listed (maybe tiered depending on downloads) seems fair especially because it doesn’t incentivize people to do scammy things with pricing. It’s already a fee anyway.
That just turns paid apps into splash screens for in-app purchases though
Welcome to Android lol
I’m not entirely optimistic about this ruling, but we’ll see.
Apple had no reason NOT to give refunds and then use their weight to claw it back from the app developer.
But what happens when not-too-legit apps use non-AppStore external sites to unlock features in an app?
In a perfect world it’s cheap and easy and reliable.
But it can also be a scammy shop that lures you into expensive subscriptions with no easy way to cancel them (eg. gym membership) and what happens when Little Timmy spends $9000 for Nlartbux in a mobile game’s external store?
Could go either way 🤷🏻♂️
what happens when Little Timmy spends $9000 for Nlartbux in a mobile game’s external store?
That’s why you don’t put your credit card info in a phone or tablet and let kids play with it.
I’m not entirely optimistic about this ruling, but we’ll see.
Apple had no reason NOT to give refunds and then use their weight to claw it back from the app developer.
Greed.
But what happens when not-too-legit apps use non-AppStore external sites to unlock features in an app?
I suppose we will see what happens. That’s a very slippery slope though, full of FUD, and is the same logic that Apple, Microsoft, and others try to use to keep users locked into their walled gardens.
In a perfect world it’s cheap and easy and reliable.
But it can also be a scammy shop that lures you into expensive subscriptions with no easy way to cancel them (eg. gym membership) and what happens when Little Timmy spends $9000 for Nlartbux in a mobile game’s external store?
Could be. Multiple alternative markets exist for Android already though, and some shops are scammy as fuck. Google has already put protections in place to prevent sideloading potentially harmful apps (including alternative markets), but the savvy user who knows how to bypass those restrictions should* know how to spot scammy shit.
Could go either way 🤷🏻♂️
“For your security” was never about security.
What? Since when does Valve prohibit companies from redirecting customers to non-Valve purchasing flows? Because that’s what this ruling is about, it says Apple can’t prohibit apps from telling users to go buy off-platform for lower prices. Valve isn’t doing that with Steam afaik, actually I’m not aware of any other platform that does this
Valve will even allow developers to create their own Steam keys free of charge and sell them wherever they want with no commission whatsoever
That’s pretty open I’d say
What do you mean “double dipping”? I don’t own any Apple products. I purchased through Proton’s website.
If someone purchases a Proton plan through their iOS app, Apple got a 30% cut of that. Which is stupid. Because Proton (and every other company with an iOS app) already pays Apple to simply have their app on Apple’s app store.
Proton…already pays Apple to simply have their app on Apple’s app store.
Uhhh I mean they pay a $100/year developer fee, which probably doesn’t even cover the infrastructure costs. Is that what you’re referring to?
I’m not arguing against you, Apple should consider those costs as a service to their (overpaying) customers. I’m just not sure what other costs you’re referring to.
Is that what you’re referring to?
Yes (I thought it was more, but w/e). I’ll admit, I don’t know a whole lot about development and everything that it entails, but nuance is key here. Say what you will about Proton, but this ruling just set a precedent that a company hosting an app/game download cannot take a cut from purchases completed within said app/game. That affects everyone.
I’m just looking at this from a bigger picture perspective. Apple has more than enough money already, and frankly there are far too many companies like this who need to be cut back down.
Or he’s just shitting on other companies who he knows are too greedy to do the same. Proton is getting positive press for this and he’s leaning into it with a bit of hyperbole
Not saying he’s a genius or anything, he’s just a spokesperson doing spokesperson things
How many years until prices go up? I bet they marked down 1-2 years where they realize they can’t up the prices. But after, it will creep up.
It’s not exactly 30%. For sales below $1M, it’s 15%: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/
In Europe, where this was established last year, they started charging a Core Technology Fee to cover the cost of hosting and data transfer: https://developer.apple.com/support/core-technology-fee/
And if you switch payment providers, you have to pay at least 2.5% plus transaction and any intermediary fees.
It’s nice that Proton is offering a discount, but for everyone else there may be additional ongoing costs.
This the trump-licker? Yeah, bye Proton.
Buh bye now
Thundermail is coming soon. By Mozilla.
deleted by creator
No doubt Proton’s CEO will use this to justify his “Trump is better for regulating big tech” claim, while ignoring the fact that the judge in this case is an Obama appointee.
Andy big mad they didn’t invite him to the Inauguration, he should sitting there next to sundar the creep!!!
And Faceberg and Bezonator
Cool! Still not gonna put all my eggs in the fascist-sympathetic basket
It doesn’t matter either way. Never do it that anyway. You would think people would learn a thing after being thoroughly fucked by apple and google…
It is amazing how sundar and Tim literally violated you in sexually uncomfortable ways but you are crying about Andy being a pathetic regime whore…
based move
If they can charge 30% less without Apple’s fees, then why are their prices the same whether you buy on their iOS app or direct on their website? Why have they been overcharging users who don’t buy through the iOS app by 30% all this time?
Because Apple prohibited that.
Old knowledge disclaimer, but if they didn’t change it then:
Because Apple literally tells people that they’re not allowed to charge less somewhere else - at least that was the case several years ago…
This is the same on most platforms. You’ll rarely find a product for different prices in different places because if they’re listed on Amazon, Steam, Apple, Google, etc. they’re not allowed to.
That isn’t exactly true with Steam. Valve does allow a dev to offer a discount at a different store as long as that same discount comes to Steam in a reasonable amount of time.
Straight from the docs:“It’s OK to run a discount for Steam Keys on different stores at different times as long as you plan to give a comparable offer to Steam customers within a reasonable amount of time.”
That’s probably only for selling steam keys on another store. You might be able to sell non steam versions for any price you want
Yes but recent lawsuits have exposed that their policies and their enforcement aren’t aligned.
Got a link to an article or something discussing that?
I don’t even know how to find it again.
Some things do charge different amounts though. YouTube Premium for example is more expensive if you subscribe in iOS but maybe that’s just because it’s Google.
They also could have just not let anyone subscribe through the iOS app. Lots of things do that.
I’ve noticed this too, there’s no consistency. Some companies seem to get away with two prices, others not.
Likely they were not allowed to by the terms they agreed to with apple.
Most favored nation clause. Apple gets the lowest price that you offer. I’d you offer any discounts elsewhere, that have to be the same on the app store
“Up to”…… here’s 5% off
Do he still think fascism is good for small businesses though?
If only he ever said that you weren’t making up bullshit by misrepresenting his statement.
https://x.com/andyyen/status/1864436449942110660
Seems pretty clear to me.
Are you kidding? Hating on Andy Yen for saying dumb shit he didn’t actually literally say is basically a Lemmy staple meme by now.
And article on the topic of what Andy Yen said: https://techissuestoday.com/proton-ceo-responds-to-backlash-after-his-post-supporting-trump-selection/
So, while his comment wasn’t entirely neutral I don’t see any endorsement of fascism in there.
It was the same with Elon before he went head first into facism. They usually start by selling themselves as liberal with some occasional praise of conservatives. Then later claim they are moderate or the go to favorite of tech bros claiming they are libertarian, since saying they are conservative might receive backlash.
I’d say you either openly oppose fascism or you condone it, there are no other possibilities
It sounds like that is the same as saying “you can’t oppose corporate monopolies without openly opposing fascism”
There is a lot of risk in that sort of intentional abdication of nuance, hopefully self-evident to you and to all who read this.
That’s fair I guess.
So not really. Thanks for the actual answer.
It’s always this exact article “on the topic” that gets posted in response. I remember his posts on social networks though.
