Apple is giving businesses which host paid events online via the App Store reprieve on having to pay Apple a 30 percent cut.
Apple reversed the policy late last week, although it will reportedly only do so for three months as businesses reel to try and come up with new ways to make money during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Apple’s about-face comes after Facebook complained about Apple’s policy of taking a 30 percent commission on sales from Facebook’s new online events feature. In August, Facebook said that it asked Apple to drop its commission charge for in-app purchases on events. This would allow Facebook to pass along all revenue to business owners. At the time, Apple reportedly declined to do so.
Facebook isn’t the only company to raise the issue of App Store commissions on events. Airbnb and ClassPass have also started offering virtual events, and have been hit with Apple demand for a 30% commission as a result.
Facebook isn’t happy though, feeling that the changes should last longer. “This is a difficult time for small businesses and creators, which is why we are not collecting any fees from paid online events while communities remain closed for the pandemic,” Facebook spokesperson Joe Osborne said in a statement. “Apple has agreed to provide a brief, three-month respite after which struggling businesses will have to, yet again, pay Apple the full 30% App Store tax.”
Complaints about Apple’s App Store behavior
This is just the latest complaint against Apple. A number of companies have criticized Apple’s rent-seeking behavior in the App Store. The Democrats are also leading a House antitrust investigation into tech giants, including Apple. The accusation is that tech giants “abuse … their market power to maintain their market dominance, to crush competitors, to exclude folks from their platform and to earn monopoly rents.”
Do you think Apple’s making the right call here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: CNBC
