At this point I’m less bothered by Apple taking a cut (though that’s bad enough on its own) than I am by them forcing Patreon to stop offering an entire business model. That’s so much worse than them just taking a cut if people choose to subscribe on an iPhone instead of in their web browser.
This is incredibly anti-competitive, but unfortunately it’s generally not illegal to be anti-competitive unless you have monopoly power, and the definition of monopoly has usually been interpreted far too narrowly.
They are literally being removed for not allowing Apple to take their cut.
From Patreon’s post:
Apple is requiring that Patreon switch to their iOS in-app purchase system starting this November, or risk being removed from the App Store.
So while I agree with you, I am against both of those things because they are THE SAME THING. Apple isn’t adding anything to anything. Especially when their cut is like 30 fucking percent. And beyond hurting patreon, it hurts small independent creators who either have to jack up their prices to compensate for the tax and get the same amount, which will reduce the amount of people that actually subscribe, or they literally just have to eat that loss, which for many creators will drive them out of producing the content that their patreon funds.
At this point I’m less bothered by Apple taking a cut (though that’s bad enough on its own) than I am by them forcing Patreon to stop offering an entire business model. That’s so much worse than them just taking a cut if people choose to subscribe on an iPhone instead of in their web browser.
This is incredibly anti-competitive, but unfortunately it’s generally not illegal to be anti-competitive unless you have monopoly power, and the definition of monopoly has usually been interpreted far too narrowly.
They are literally being removed for not allowing Apple to take their cut.
From Patreon’s post:
So while I agree with you, I am against both of those things because they are THE SAME THING. Apple isn’t adding anything to anything. Especially when their cut is like 30 fucking percent. And beyond hurting patreon, it hurts small independent creators who either have to jack up their prices to compensate for the tax and get the same amount, which will reduce the amount of people that actually subscribe, or they literally just have to eat that loss, which for many creators will drive them out of producing the content that their patreon funds.
Apple is rotten to the core.