AZ House defeats Apple/Google (no more Apple Tax on Apps?)

[loop101]

Arizona House passes bill that threatens Apple and Google's app stores

The vote is a setback for Apple, which opposed it, and a victory for the Coalition for App Fairness, a group representing app makers, which backed the bill.

www.cnbc.com

The Arizona bill, HB 2005, targeted Apple's fees by requiring companies that run app stores with over a million downloads per year to allow apps to offer alternative payment processors, enabling developers to avoid fees ranging from 15% to 30%. The bill would apply to companies and users in Arizona.

 

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[loop101]

I guess companies that are forced to give 30% of their app revenue to Apple will start relocating to Arizona so they can pay 0%

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367197326041903106

View: https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1367197326041903106

 

[Empires]

I don't really understand this. Apple and Android bring millions of users to the their app stores allowing developers and companies to get downloads to their apps... and they want to pay 0% for it?

Sure, the percentage is up for debate.. 15-30% may be high but 0% is ridiculous.

Apple and Google are bringing their value, millions of users, to the table and surely deserve to take a cut of it.

 

[BizyDad]

I don't really understand this. Apple and Android bring millions of users to the their app stores allowing developers and companies to get downloads to their apps... and they want to pay 0% for it?

Sure, the percentage is up for debate.. 15-30% may be high but 0% is ridiculous.

Apple and Google are bringing their value, millions of users, to the table and surely deserve to take a cut of it.

Interesting take. By that rationale, maybe the phone companies should charge percentages to Google and Apple. They are bringing the similar value. Maybe they already are and I'm just unaware of it.

Anyways, the law states that Apple and Google cannot force AZ app developers to process payments only through means they control.

But most people will still pay through the methods those companies control, because convenience.

The user side is cool and all, but I doubt developers start switching just to cash in on the AZ user base.

It also says they can't retaliate against the app developers for offering other payment methods or ways to download the app.

Which is interesting wording, but I'm sure Apple/Google can find other fees that work around the letter of the law. That seems to be how these things go, especially if they don't win a court battle.

Of course, there's always the threat of pulling the app stores out of AZ. Google often reacts to laws that way too.

Still, overall it's a good look for AZ in it's effort to attract more tech companies. I recently read that manufacturing jobs now outnumber real estate jobs for the first time in I forget how long. The state is making progress in finally diversifying it's economy.

Thanks for the share @loop101

 

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[Raja]

I don't really understand this. Apple and Android bring millions of users to the their app stores allowing developers and companies to get downloads to their apps... and they want to pay 0% for it?

Sure, the percentage is up for debate.. 15-30% may be high but 0% is ridiculous.

Apple and Google are bringing their value, millions of users, to the table and surely deserve to take a cut of it.

you pay for account you create, does that not count.

we are talking about in app purchases here

 

[Empires]

you pay for account you create, does that not count.

we are talking about in app purchases here

The $99/year for the account is more so to pay for the tools and software the developers get to use

 

[Empires]

Interesting take. By that rationale, maybe the phone companies should charge percentages to Google and Apple. They are bringing the similar value. Maybe they already are and I'm just unaware of it.

I think that would be a valid thing for phone companies to try.

I consider it being a gatekeeper to a market. Or a customer base in this case.

The value they are bringing is their users, why not charge Apple to access their users?

I don't think it would work in this case though, if Google and Apple pulled their app stores from those phone company's phones then nobody would buy their phone. So they lose.

This only works if the company trying to charge a fee has the leverage.

 

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