The major policy change in the Apple app store has come as a piece of big news to all Apple users. Recently, Apple announced the big news regarding some changes in the policies of the apple app store that now allows the reader apps to include the link to their own website. This will let the users manage their accounts on those certain websites directly and will even let them pay for their own subscriptions directly.
What Does the New Change in the Apple App Store Mean?
This big change in the apple app store will definitely have an effect on lots of activities including the Apple app store login, apple app store customer service and many other related things. According to Apple, this change is a result of the investigation process that was held by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC). In the JFTC, under the agreement made by Apple with the JFTC, the developers of the concerned ‘reader apps’ will now be allowed to include and attach the in-app links on their website for the users and visitors of their page. This will also allow users to set and manage their user accounts. Moreover, Apple claims that even though its agreement was with JFTC, this policy is now being implemented globally.
In its later statements, Apple has also given clarifications regarding the new changes in its apple app store, that the term reader apps in its official statement include all the apps that are providing previously purchased content and purchased subscriptions for different digital music, audio, video, newspapers, books and magazines. This also includes apps like Spotify, Soundcloud, Netflix, etc. Another thing apart from including the in-app link for the users to purchase a paid account is that the developers will be able to avoid the 15-30 per cent of the developer commission that is charged by Apple from them.
How Does the New Apple App Store Change Impact the Developers?
Now, this is where many problems and questions arise as this change will somewhere affect the developers. According to the official sources, it is said that this policy change in the Apple app store will come into effect in the year 2022. So when the new changes will be implemented altogether, the developers will have the option to skip the payments via the Apple app store altogether. This will result in paying Apple the cut for all the transactions that have been made there.
Apple has still highlighted the importance of how in-app purchases are still a safer option than other available choices. Again people are concerned regarding the safety and the security of the users when they will link their bank accounts to the external website for the payment option, so Apple has ensured the safety for the linking of their bank accounts to the external website. Another news for Spotify users is users with premium members can use their premium account from the iOS app rather than depending on Apple’s payment system.
What is the Controversy About This Change in the Policy?
Now, these new changes might seem like new Apple app store rules and regulations but if you trace back, it is the continuation of the strategy that Apple has been carrying since the year 2008. Defending its core ideologies, Apple has historically made small changes to the guidelines which include the right to determine what software are allowed to operate on iPhones and lays financial terms and conditions for the rest of the developers that agree to come under or are already under the first condition.
According to the regulators and the developers, the 30 per cent cut is way too high. There are also cases where manual app reviews are deemed to be arbitrary and powerful. Thus, this new policy depresses the price of software and focuses on free updates. The new charge is very unfair to them and the developers feel that there has to be a call for their change and alteration. This new policy will let the users bypass the Apple payment system and introduce the link to an outside payment system.
The Reaction of the Media Companies and Developers
There have been many comments regarding the latest decision of the change in the policy. According to the CEO and founder of Spotify, the new Apple app store’s decision of the major policy change might be a step in the right direction but it is still not solving anything and even labelled it as a self-serving step taken by Apple. Thus, according to him, this will not end any competition and the company has to keep looking for better solutions for the problem.
Another comment has come from Tim Sweeny, the founder of Epic Games which took a step further to sue both Apple and Google over the new payment change. This will lead to a big change in Apple customer service too if the voices are not raised against the decision. According to Sweeney, these direct payments are actually not safe at all and allowing the bypassing of its own in-app purchases had added to further issues and harms.
Seeing the above reactions, Apple's recent policy decision has been under scrutiny from governments and different regulators from across the world. In India also the new Apple app store policy of the 30 per cent commission is deemed unfair. Moreover, in South Korea, a bill has been passed last week, that has given the developers of any app to choose whichever payment option they wish for their in-app purchases. This will help them to easily bypass the new in-app purchases rules made by Apple thereby, not reducing any risk of fraud and any sort of invasion of privacy.
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