More and more software developers have publicly criticized Apple’s revenue sharing policy for in-app purchases, which shows that Apple’s fee structure is causing more and more damage to small businesses worldwide. Recently, Facebook also announced that it has joined the industry of critics.
This Friday, Facebook launched paid activities in 20 countries, allowing companies to charge users for access to real-time video streams, such as yoga classes or seminars. Facebook said that Apple does not agree to waive the 30% commission on in-app transactions on its devices, nor will it allow Facebook to use its own technology to allow iOS users to pay .
Facebook’s main application operator Fidji Simo said: “Alphabet’s Google has not waived the 30% fee collected by the app store in the Android mobile operating system, but the Internet search giant allows Facebook to pay through its own products to avoid these costs. At the same time, Facebook will not receive a share of the revenue generated by this feature.”
Simo said in an interview: “We once strongly requested Apple to waive the commission through regular channels, or allowed us to use Facebook’s own payment path. We hoped that Apple would choose at least one of the two, but they refused.” Simo said that Apple is Facebook An important partner, and said that Facebook needs to rely on Apple’s app store to publish its own applications, but also pointed out that Facebook does not agree with Apple’s revenue policy.
Simo said: “Helping small businesses to recover from the global pandemic of the new crown epidemic is crucial, and all technology companies should do the same. The reason we stand up is because we want Apple to join us and avoid the commission. This is what Our real goal.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
The day before Facebook’s public declaration of war, Epic Games, the developer of “Fortnite”, announced lawsuits against Apple and Google. Prior to this, the two Internet giants removed “Fortnite” from their respective apps due to payment disputes. It is removed from the app store. Epic tried to bypass Apple’s and Google’s in-app payment systems and avoid 30% of the in-app commission to reduce costs, which violated the regulations of the two companies.
Apple can get a 30% commission when users purchase digital products, but Apple does not charge any commission for purchases of individual courses or use of ride-sharing services. This is because Apple requires developers to allow users to pay with credit cards. Due to the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus, face-to-face transactions have become more virtualized, and Apple’s regulations allow itself to charge fees through the payment network. These accusations against the app store have been the focus of investigations into Apple’s market influence by regulators. At an antitrust hearing held by the US Congress in July, Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “We will cooperate with those who happen to be transferred from the real world to the virtual world due to the epidemic.”
In recent years, Facebook and Apple have repeatedly criticized each other publicly . Apple tried to restrict Facebook from collecting data from iOS devices and positioned itself as a strong advocate of user privacy. In 2018, Cook criticized Facebook’s targeted advertising business model, saying, “If we also monetize customers-if our customers are our products, then Apple can make a lot of money.” After Facebook exposed the Cambridge Analytica scandal Soon, when asked what he would do if he were Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg), Cook replied: “I will not encounter this situation.”
Zuckerberg’s response was to criticize Apple’s expensive mobile phones and charges. He publicly stated: “I think it’s important that we shouldn’t all suffer from Stockholm syndrome. Let the companies that try to charge you brainwash you and keep telling you that they actually care more about you. Because of me. I think this sounds ridiculous.”
At the beginning of 2019, due to the social network Facebook violating the regulations of the Apple App Store, Apple temporarily cut off users’ access to Facebook’s internal applications, which caused confusion in Facebook.
Facebook has always been wary of Apple and Google because it must abide by the respective rules of the two companies in order to operate in their app stores. This is one of the reasons why Facebook started to build hardware devices, and also one of the reasons why Facebook developed software programs for augmented reality and virtual reality. Simo said on Friday that although Facebook does not approve of Apple’s practices, Facebook is willing to abide by Apple’s rules. She said: “When developers bypass the regulations of other payment methods, things are not good.”
In view of the widespread impact of the new coronavirus, people are forced to complete work and study tasks through the Internet at home, Facebook has been more actively promoting the live video function. Simo said that the number of online videos on Facebook in June was twice what it was a year ago. Zuckerberg emphasized Facebook’s paid activities feature during the first quarter earnings conference call in late April, saying that the feature is currently being tested. Facebook is considering extending paid events to the video conferencing feature Rooms and photo sharing app Instagram.
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