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Apple again asks Court of Appeal to stay Epic Games injunction
Point 1, almost no developer handles credit card data, they resort to PCI compliant acquiring providers just like Apple. Providers like Adyen, EvoPayment, Ingenico, WorldPay, PayPal, etc. At no point do small and medium developer ever see or save you credit card data.davidw said:A For one, customers would have to provide their CC info and maybe other financial data to a third party developer. Might not be a problem with well established developers like Epic or Spotify or Microsoft . But the developer selling a $2.99 app might not be as trustworthy with customers data.
Second, Apple must allow developers to provide a direct link for payment outside the App Store. Though Apple do a decent job of stopping malware from getting through the Apple App Store, they by no means can stop all of it. One bad link and thousands or tens of thousands of customers could be affected, before Apple finds out about it.
Third, when Apple handle the payment for the customer, they also handle any refund, if the app doesn't performed as advertised. With a third party payment, the customer must go through the developer to get a refund.
Fourth, what happens to customers that buy a new iDevice or has to factory reset on the iDevice they have. How do they get their purchased app back, if they don't have a backup? With Apple iTunes payment, Apple reinstall them automatically, providing they are still available. But customers paying on developers sites would need to contact each developer they purchased an app from, to verify purchase and get it reinstalled or have to open an account with them when they made the purchase.
Fifth, who's going to take responsibility when a not so well established developer server gets hacked into and customers data is stolen?
Yes, these are problems that are not impossible for developers to solve but how do the customers know when making an impulse purchase from a developer they never dealt with or even heard of? It's one thing to allow developers to inform customers that payment can be made on their website and provide a link that opens a browser to that website. It's quite another to allow developers to provide a direct link in their app, to their own payment system.
Point 2 is correct but the security Apple provides regarding external links isn’t specific of the Appstore. We can’t call it security when the Appstore doesn’t allow external links. That would be like saying: the best way not to lose your wallet is by not having one.
Point 3, this is utter BS. Apple has no idea if a service was delivered before they issue a refund.
Gaming companies are forced to suspend hundreds of accounts per month, because Apple decided to issue refunds to users who received and spent their products.
On the other hand, Apple doesn’t allow us to refund costumers when there was in fact a problem because they decide on the refunds.
Finally, when Apple refuses a refund and tells the customer to contact the developer, they know the developer can’t see the payments, because Apple doesn’t provide developers with a way to map your invoice with a specific payment. So developers are forced to send the users back to Apple, who will still try to send them back to the developer.
Point 4, if you have a game account, that account is saved on the game company side with all your purchases. Your account will have an email saved or an account ID with which you can recover it.
Not every company uses game connect, so when buying a new iPhone, Apple can’t always recover your game account.Point 5, The game developer is responsible, but what data? A game studio has probably your Email and your login IP, nothing else.
Apple is responsible for the data they hold, but for payment processing they work with PayPal, Boku, Adyen, etc and those providers hold your financial data. They are also the companies who would hold the data and process the payments for the game developers.
Your assumptions are from a perspective that Apple does everything on their own and they are amazing at it.
The only reason they have the AppStore environment closed is too keep game developers in the dark, of what is happening and be able to charge 30% for a service no developer wants. Developers simply want users of Apple devices to access their products.Apple does this because they see everyone in the Appstore user as their customer, even when buying in our games, they are Apple customers. Even after a gaming company spent millions in Marketing pulling users to our games, those users are seen by Apple as their users.
What are the disadvantages for the people buying through those links?
- The payment process will be a bit longer due to the redirection to external pages.
- You may have to insert your credit card data in every purchase because few game developers work with card on file.
- There are bad actors who can use fraud links but it’s still up to Apple to test those links in the review process.
What are the advantages for the customers?
- Lower prices.
Medium companies who pay higher payment processing fees will be able to reduce their prices by 10% to 15%.Larger companies with robust payment systems may pass 15% to 20% discounts to the customers without any impact on their revenue.
Small studios will still use Apple, because they don’t have the resources to build and manage their own shops.
- More payment methods. Apple decides how you pay and in the future you may want to use your credit card directly or through PayPal, or pay through your bank account or use your phone, a giftcard, etc, etc.
- Developers will be able to refund payments and provide you with better support because they can see your payments.
- Developer will be able to decide what something costs in each country and which currency to offer. Something which is now controlled by Apple.
Did you know Apple just last week stopped all sales in Turkey due to crash of the local currency, increased their prices and reactivated it? What did they do in the Appstore? Nothing! All developers are being forced to sell their product 50% cheaper because Apple will get their 30%, for doing nothing, anyway.
How would you feel playing a competitive game knowing your adversary pays half of what you pay?
Have you noticed that when Apple reduce the fee from 30% to 15% for small developers, they didn’t pass part of their savings to the customers? You know why? Because Apple doesn’t allow it since they control the pricepoints and the conversion to every currency.
This appeal isn’t to protect Apple users, it’s to protect their 30% cut over the work of developers.They can’t justify these 30% when their competitors charge half and less.
