It sounds like you maybe haven’t developed at all. Fees in store systems exist. That’s not the argument. Apple was actively forcing apps to use their pay system by searching for any apps that would say things like “you can pay on our website and save 30%” even and delisting them. The reason for that is that a 10 dollar patreon subscription had to cost 13 on apple apps because apple was refusing to allow patreon (who has built their own payment system) to use it.
And what do apps that use the apple store get from this payment system? They can’t monitor refunds well, can’t get analytics on their user bases from the Apple app, etc. This behavior is classic predatory apple. They are adding nothing to the payment system but requiring it for all purchases in any app on the iPhone so they can make a 30% mark up. And they are relying on someone like you to parrot back that they are a “closed” ecosystem. Closed in this context means intentionally lazy due to an abusable practice. They’ve just always gotten away with this because they’ve built a user base that doesn’t critical think. (I.e. intentionally shitty photos and text experience between Android and iOS. No migration tools to leave iCloud so that it’s harder to ever switch to a better product. Wearables can’t work with iPhones because text messages are deemed insecure despite that not being the case in every ecosystem, etc. etc ).
I’ll also add that apple isn’t really making this closed either. They are hamstringing apps but will strike sweetheart deals with any app that would be too big to make a problem out of this. (Think Amazon, Walmart, Netflix). So while I’m not a huge fan of epic games, at least this one CEO who could’ve struck a sweetheart deal, stood up and fought the entire fucked up practice that has stolen from smaller companies for over a decade.
It sounds like you maybe haven’t developed at all. Fees in store systems exist. That’s not the argument. Apple was actively forcing apps to use their pay system by searching for any apps that would say things like “you can pay on our website and save 30%” even and delisting them. The reason for that is that a 10 dollar patreon subscription had to cost 13 on apple apps because apple was refusing to allow patreon (who has built their own payment system) to use it.
And what do apps that use the apple store get from this payment system? They can’t monitor refunds well, can’t get analytics on their user bases from the Apple app, etc. This behavior is classic predatory apple. They are adding nothing to the payment system but requiring it for all purchases in any app on the iPhone so they can make a 30% mark up. And they are relying on someone like you to parrot back that they are a “closed” ecosystem. Closed in this context means intentionally lazy due to an abusable practice. They’ve just always gotten away with this because they’ve built a user base that doesn’t critical think. (I.e. intentionally shitty photos and text experience between Android and iOS. No migration tools to leave iCloud so that it’s harder to ever switch to a better product. Wearables can’t work with iPhones because text messages are deemed insecure despite that not being the case in every ecosystem, etc. etc ).
I’ll also add that apple isn’t really making this closed either. They are hamstringing apps but will strike sweetheart deals with any app that would be too big to make a problem out of this. (Think Amazon, Walmart, Netflix). So while I’m not a huge fan of epic games, at least this one CEO who could’ve struck a sweetheart deal, stood up and fought the entire fucked up practice that has stolen from smaller companies for over a decade.