iPhone app developers can keep bottles of champagne chilled. Apple, under the pressure of a weekly fine of 5 million euros, decided belatedly to conform on February 3 to an order from the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM): accepting third-party payment systems on dating apps.
The developers’ Pyrrhic victory
On the surface, this is good news for developers, but it’s misunderstanding Apple. The company has done everything to apply the decision of the Dutch competition authority, which it is appealing, as a minimum.
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First thing, of course, Apple’s change only affects dating apps and the Netherlands. Then Apple accepted an in-app payment system different from its own or, at its option, a link to a website for payment, without giving up its commission.
Apple requires 27% of developer revenue, even with an alternative payment system. Or a generous donation of 3% on the commissions usually recovered by Cupertino. Developers will have to send a monthly report to Apple on their income, on which basis the company can demand 27%.
The company also warned that it could no longer transmit certain information, such as payment history, to users of dating applications.
Apple has never concealed its hostility to the idea of opening up its in-app payment system. The company reiterated when announcing the new arrangements made in the Netherlands, ” These changes will compromise user experience and create new threats to user privacy and data security. “.
One of the dangers less highlighted by the Apple brand concerns the comfortable income from commissions recovered via the App Store. Developers know that Apple won’t let them down so easily. The implementation of a 27% commission on third-party payment systems attests to this. Many fear that Apple will extend this system beyond the borders of the Netherlands.
Because the opening of Apple’s payment system seems inevitable, despite the efforts of Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, to dissuade regulators and legislators from following this path.
Apple will fight to the end for its in-app payment service
In September 2021, following a decision in Japan, Apple decided to offer users other payment methods than its own for video or music applications. A practice that will be extended to the rest of the world, at the company’s initiative, in 2022. In addition, Apple is being prosecuted for its practices by the European Commission and in the United States, as part of its lawsuit against Epic Games. .
On the legislative level, South Korea passed a law in 2021 along the same lines. It is due to come into effect on March 15. The US Congress is thinking about it, with the Open App Markets Act and the European Union is approaching it with the Digital Markets Act.
Colorado law professor Blake Reid wrote in a tweet spotted by Ars-Technica than ” anyone drafting an app store competition bill should internalize this insight into how Apple will fight compliance “.
Anyone writing an app store competition bill needs to internalize this preview of how Apple will fight compliance and consider how to equip regulators with the tools necessary to make privacy/security vs. competition determinations without getting wrapped around the axle. https://t.co/Mu4BREHFjW
— Blake E. Reid (@blakereid) February 4, 2022
Apple will not let it go and will seek to save the revenue generated by the App Store. A banality as Cupertino’s lobbying activity leaves little room for doubt on this point. The Dutch example has the advantage of constraining the company unveiled one of the parades it has imagined.