Apple will let developers of “reader” apps worldwide link to a website to set up or manage accounts early next year, closing an antitrust investigation by Japan

Apple will let developers of “reader” apps around the world link to an external website to set up or manage an account beginning early next year

Apple 2021-09-02

Discussion

@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
This is what you get when trying to sign up for Netflix on the iPhone today. In early 2022, it'll be a button that points you to Netflix's website to sign up and pay there. This is a major, structural change that will save Apple a lot of scrutiny. https://twitter.com/...
@jamesthomson James Thomson on x
Again with the “let's add more complicated rules in an effort to stave off antitrust” approach, rather than just ripping off the payment system band-aid: https://www.apple.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
Apple should open up iOS on the basis of hardware, stores, payments, and services each competing individually on their merits. Instead, they're running a literally day-by-day recalculation of divide-and-conquer in hopes of getting away with most of their tying practices. https://…
@benthompson Ben Thompson on x
“Finally” Apple drops anti-steering provision for “reader” apps. https://www.apple.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
Apple's special deal for “reader apps” like Amazon video, Netflix, and Kindle just got more special! Starting in 2022, they can link directly to the web to signup and “manage” accounts (presumably meaning: buying stuff with non-Apple payment methods). https://www.apple.com/...
@firstadopter Tae Kim on x
Here we go again. Careful. Read the details in the press release. One link is for reader apps only. Apple is not giving up on anti-steering for in-app purchases: https://www.apple.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@appfairness @appfairness on x
.@Apple's latest announcement seems to be another attempt to protect their App Store monopoly by dividing developers into winners and losers. Apple must end its anti-competitive practices and provide a fair digital marketplace for all. https://www.reuters.com/...
@stevesi Steven Sinofsky on x
@mgsiegler @pkafka Feels easy to argue either way. Part, is that every regulatory body wants its pound of flesh, so you have to go through this. MSFT settled bits & pieces in many jurisdictions. OTOH, regulating a successful company has risk so if the company shows effort it can …
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
Lot of the discussion around this, especially from Apple's side, makes it sound like a potential in-app payment wild west. What that ignores is that there are payment processors that customers *do* trust — Amazon, Stripe, PayPal, et al https://twitter.com/...
@ow @ow on x
Apple is finally forced to let developers add a *single link* to ‘reader’ apps to access their account/purchases on the web This is huge; no more dead-end Kindle app, for example, and it's now possible to survive on iOS without using in-app purchases. https://www.apple.com/...
@keleftheriou Kosta Eleftheriou on x
@siracusa Adding explainer text will cost you 1% of revenue per character. No emoji or extended Unicode allowed.
@adamkovac Adam Kovacevich on x
Policymakers should definitely pass laws to help the balance sheet of Epic Games, one of 9 US startups valued at $12B+ https://twitter.com/...
@tapbot_paul Paul Haddad on x
All kidding aside this is great news, awesome to see the small developers come out ahead for once! Congratulations to <checks notes> Amazon, Netflix, HBO, Disney, Google, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify and dozens of others!
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
@VOLKRING How so? Companies already report revenue received from Apple. If they move away from Apple's in-app purchase system to PayPal or Stripe, then they'd report the revenue received from that payment processor instead. There's no fundamental tax reporting difference.
@viticci Federico Viticci on x
I don't know friends, these “reader” apps seem pretty suspicious to me. Linking to “the web”? For “account management”? On a “website”? pretty scary stuff https://www.apple.com/...
@protocol @protocol on x
A number of US state legislatures attempted to pass app store bills — which were similar to South Korea's new law — over the past year. The App Store as we know it may not be long for this world. https://www.protocol.com/...
@miyagawa Tatsuhiko Miyagawa on x
Now this seems like a real policy change and Netflix/Kindle app would be allowed to put a link in the app to signup/upgrade their account on their website https://www.apple.com/...
@neilcybart Neil Cybart on x
My view continues to be that developers new to the platform (emerging markets) *get* this point much more than what we can refer to as legacy developers which simply means they have been with iOS for many years.
@jsngr Jordan Singer on x
link out to your own website → charge & process your own payments https://twitter.com/...
@siracusa John Siracusa on x
Sure, your “reader” app can include one (1) approved link to your website...but will you be allowed to have any text near that link explaining why someone might want to tap on it, or is that still forbidden? This is where we are, mentally, when considering App Store rules in 2021…
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
@mgsiegler ... I have similarly debated the downside and the pros dramatically outweigh the cons. There is also a strong strategic angle that forces others to drop their rate as well.
@ow @ow on x
It's really dumb that it's big deal that Apple will let devs add a single link to the web in their apps...let alone that it took THIS LONG ... but it will change things for devs in a big way (if Apple doesn't force that link to have arbitrary restrictions, but it probably will)
@jsngr Jordan Singer on x
seems to apply to “reader” apps only: “Reader apps provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video.” https://www.apple.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Here is Apple's news explained in a twee: Now Spotify can tell Apple Spotify users to go to https://spotify.com/ instead of this silly message. Spotify still can't sell a subscription w/in the app (without giving Apple 30%) but now they can at least point users to their site. htt…
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
A series of lawsuits and regulatory challenges around the world are changing they way Apple runs its App Store, bit by bit. This one is more meaningful then the last one Apple announced last week. https://twitter.com/...
@richlightshed Rich Greenfield on x
As everyone reads & writes about the Apple @AppStore news, most credit Epic Games who are not even impacted by the change @Spotify and specifically, @eldsjal deserve a tremendous amount of credit for launching a war with Apple back in March 2019 $SPOT https://newsroom.spotify.com…
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
This bit isn't really true, now, is it? Amazon video offers digital goods for sale, like individual movies for purchase or rent, that can be experienced in-app. Puzzle: Is there some way to parenthesize this statement so it's true? https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Ugh tweet. Anyway this still won't satisfy Spotify, which has other concerns (namely that Apple sells a competing service and doesn't have to pay its own tax). Other people who won't be happy include... a lot of people. Including game developers, who make up most of App Store $.
@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
Applies to Reader apps: video, music, newspapers, magazines and books, which is a nice chunk of categories including Spotify and Netflix. https://twitter.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Only applies to “reader” apps. Ebooks, magazines, newspapers, etc. https://www.apple.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@appfairness @appfairness on x
“The South Korean law is a fierce repudiation of the mobile app store business model, and also offers a roadmap for regulators in the EU and the U.S. to adopt similar approaches to reining in Big Tech.” Read more in today's @protocol: https://www.protocol.com/...
@benthompson Ben Thompson on x
This isn't perfect — I would like apps to be allowed webviews to their storefronts, not just links — but it's a huge amount of progress, and shouldn't be understated. https://stratechery.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@nickstatt Nick Statt on x
The more I read about this the more likely it seems Apple and Gogole might simply shift platform charges away from per-transaction cut to some other type of fee. In fact, nothing stopping them from including a 30% cut into the Apple Developer Program license.
@convertbond Lawrence McDonald on x
*APPLE TO LET APP MAKERS POINT USERS TO WEB TO PAY FOR SERVICES - This would seem to challenge the recurring services argument that substantially fueled the multiple growth pace. *Looks like a preemptive move - getting out in front of possible DOJ action @davidametzner ?
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
I could have sworn that during a long-since-past furore Apple introduced the term ‘Reader apps’ out of nowhere as an excuse to give certain apps special exceptions to certain rules
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
I guess it should be noted that developers & apps don't self-identify as ‘Reader apps’. Apple decides what is and isn't a Reader app. And then it will quietly use that as a means to influence how your app works via App Review rejections and opaque addenda to the rules
@vladsavov Vlad Savov on x
To get the Japan FTC off its back, Apple is letting app makers link out to alternative payment methods that avoid its usual 30% cut. But, biggest caveat ever, that doesn't apply to games or in-app purchases, which are the vast majority of App Store sales. https://www.bloomberg.co…
@bloombergquint @bloombergquint on x
Apple Inc. will allow developers of some apps to link from their software to external websites for payments by users. https://www.bloombergquint.com/ ...
@jasoncross00 Jason Cross on x
@siracusa @stroughtonsmith My guess is that the CLOSEST we'll get to it is that it can say “Create your account” or “manage your account” or something. I very much doubt the rules will let you mention pricing, buying content (ebooks, movies, etc), or anything else you can do ther…
@tapbot_paul Paul Haddad on x
New App Store Rules! Apps available in countries that end in the letter n will be able to hint at purchases outside the App Store, but only if their icon is mostly blue or red. Furthermore in Spanish speaking countries your call to action must include “Vosotros”.
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
Apple's press release does make the bold assumption that no further changes to its steering practices are going to be mandated over the remaining months of the year 😅 Restricting it to ‘Reader’ apps, and a single in-app link, is just not enough
@tapbot_paul Paul Haddad on x
“Please note if your app brings up the keyboard at any point, it becomes a writer app. Writer apps are now subject to an extra 5% App Store surcharge for regular keyboards and 7.5% for the Emoji keyboard.”
@parkerortolani Parker Ortolani on x
Ok. This is the big one. This is huge. HUGE. https://www.apple.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
@adamkovac @BradStone Policymakers should intervene to preserve competition because Apple and Google have used their market power in the hardware and OS market to block competition in the separate markets for app stores and payments.
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
In Apple's carefully-worded statement on safety, it's hard to discern the rationale that this is safe while Fortnite accepting direct payments remains unsafe. Even more so if Apple deems Roblox, a game from 2006-2021 that became “an experience” mid-trial, a reader app.
@tapbot_paul Paul Haddad on x
Yeah I'm bitter our App Store commission is supposed to help pay for iOS/SDK development and App Store hosting + review. Feels like a kick in the balls to now have to subsidize all these big publishers. Doing it for the multi billion $ ad based apps was already bad enough.
@dbreunig Drew Breunig on x
All this means: iOS and the App Store is a place to start a niche business, only. Any company that has dreams of big growth needs to build a business without it at the center. Apple has made it so iOS apps are no longer a valid the first step for almost all companies.
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
It took the full weight of a national antitrust investigation to make Apple budge by ‘a single link’ for a /subset/ of App Store apps, a policy change that would require no development or code changes on Apple's part. We've got a loooong road ahead of us https://twitter.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
@VOLKRING @TyBurgerPLUS Apple and Google collect a fee on payments they process. Their rules say nothing of collecting a fee on payments they don't process, and never have. You are speculating about wild new policies they could introduce in the future.
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
This is pretty wild, Apple is changing the (ridiculous) App Store rules one individual settlement at a time. https://www.apple.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
@adamkovac I agree that government shouldn't pass any law for the purpose of helping any particular company, 30-year-old startup Epic Games included. The rightful purpose of competition law is to preserve competition, not to pick winners or losers.
@gearoidreidy Gearoid Reidy on x
Wow look at the Japan Fair Trade Commission out here getting results https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @technology
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Next we just need like Croatia to sue over non-"Reader" in-app sign up restrictions and Apple will change that in a few months.
@bruceqburke BruceBurke on x
@Chris_Skinner Tim Cook says Apple will still take its commission despite a different payment method being used. I don't know how they are going to accomplish that but ...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
These keep coming. But piecemeal changes will be swept away by systemic change pretty soon. https://www.apple.com/...
@stroughtonsmith Steve Troughton-Smith on x
If Apple cared about consumers more than the paltry sum it makes from developer revenue, it would drop App Store & In App Purchase commissions to as low as realistically possible, so that everybody would want to use the system. Match other processors — you can afford to
@nickstatt Nick Statt on x
Phil Schiller in an email to Steve Jobs in 2011: “Do you think our 70/30 split will last forever?” 10 years later: South Korea passes the first meaningful app store payments law. https://www.protocol.com/...
@s8mb Sam Bowman on x
8. I think that is bad for users directly, because it makes the internet a more confusing, chaotic and risky place. I agree with John Gruber - most people don't wish their iPhone was more like a Windows PC, other than hobbyists and lobbyists. https://daringfireball.net/... https:…
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
Is India the next domino to fall for Apple regarding in-app payments? https://www.reuters.com/...
@adityakalra Aditya Kalra on x
Details of the new antitrust case — “Together We Fight Society” vs Apple Inc. “The existence of the 30% commission means that some app developers will never make it to the market ... This could also result in consumer harm”. Apple did not respond. https://www.reuters.com/...
@sub8u Subrahmanyam Kvj on x
When it rains, it pours. “Apple hit with antitrust case in India over in-app payments issues” https://www.reuters.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@adityakalra Aditya Kalra on x
Reuters Story: Apple is facing a new antitrust case in India for allegedly forcing developers to use its in-app payment system. The case, filed by a non-profit, also alleges Apple's practices have hurt India payment processors & deters market entry of apps https://www.reuters.com…
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
There are just as many questions as answers: - Does Apple still get to define “reader” app by fiat? - Can apps explicitly mention payment or price or is that muzzled? - One link - where does it go? Are there rules? https://www.apple.com/...
@zsk Zoe Kleinman on x
Anyone else think the App Store gravy train (as its critics say) may be applying the brakes before it's derailed? Will be v interesting to see the Epic/Apple verdict, when it comes https://www.theverge.com/...
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
In any case, the so-called anti-steering rule that didn't allow apps to acknowledge the existence of anything outside the app store for account sign up is one of the most outlandish and happy to see even what seems to be a softening of it.
@stephennellis Stephen Nellis on x
What's the difference between a reader app and a game? In the end, it's whatever Apple decides it is. (Ok, there are rules, but Apple can and does change them.) https://twitter.com/...
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
How many “reader” apps are there in the App Store? - Is there a list? - Can developers challenge their designated category? - Why is this rule limited to “reader” apps? - Why does the “reader app” distinction exist?
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
Also, remember: the text of the policy is only part of the policy. How it is *interpreted* and *enforced* matters just as much. We were here just over a year ago: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x
As they are gradually unpicked, Apple's App Store rules just look ever more ridiculous. https://twitter.com/...

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Apple will let developers of “reader” apps worldwide link to a website to set up or manage accounts early next year, closing an antitrust investigation by Japan

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