It will be interesting to see how this pans out, DHH’s new email service has fallen foul too:
When I was selling an app on the App Store (at 99p and I was getting about £50 a month) I think Apple took around half in fees… which while a bit high I could understand since I would have probably had zero sales without their marketing / App Store. However I can see why services like Spotify are annoyed, they don’t need the App Store for discovery as they have their own marketing avenues, it’s particularly difficult for them because they directly compete with some of Apple’s own paid services (Apple Music).
It wouldn’t surprise me if regulators eventually force all huge companies (and OSes) that society rely on, into public ownership at some point.
While on the topic of fees… we get ripped off here! I know someone who moved to Singapore and I think he said he pays the equivalent of about £2.99 for Apple Music whereas we pay £9.99 here!!! Similar for Netflix, etc too. 