cropr

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cropr
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  • Spotify speaks out against Apple's 30% commission fee -- again

    croprcropr
    Calvin_Hobbes said:
    "As it turns out, Spotify is mostly not subject to Apple's 30% commission either. After the first year of a subscription, Apple's fees drop to 15%."

    oh.

    Well that seems more than fair.

    And while we're on the topic of complaining: Hey Spotify how about paying an actual user interface designer to clean up the train wreck that is your interface no matter what you're trying to do??
    The Romans already said 2000 years ago:" De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum":   I find the Spotify UI better than the Apple Music UI.

    williamlondonwilliamhFileMakerFellerJaphey9secondkox2

  • After 11 years of work, people actually like Apple Maps

    croprcropr
    Still not really usable in Belgium due to the language issues. When Apple Maps was launched in Belgium some 10 years ago, I tried ito use Apple Maps + siri to navigate me to 5 major roads in Antwerp:  Apple Maps +  Siri managed to route me to 1 address correctly: Siri did not understand 3 of them, and Maps sent me  1 to the same street in a neighboring village.   For me it was unbelieveable that the main boulevard in Antwerp, the "Amerikalei" was not understood.

    From time to time I repeated the test

    Currently it has improved but has not yet reached an acceptable level: Siri recognizes 3 out of 5, which maps correctly routed, but Siri is still missing 2 out of 5. 

    The pronunciation of the street names is Apple Maps is still after all of this years horrible.  Apple Maps still not manages to pronounce the "Desguinlei" in such a way that it can be understood by humans. 

    Using Apple Maps in Brussels could also be improved.  I am Dutch speaking and Brussel is officially a bilingual Dutch / French city, so I am expecting that Apple Maps uses the Dutch version of the street names in Brussels.  But Apple Maps have a very mixed bag here:  sometimes it uses the French version somtimes the Dutch version, but not consistently.

    So still sticking to Google Maps and Waze. 


    williamlondonappleinsideruserFileMakerFellermuthuk_vanalingam

  • Spotify cutting off remaining customers paying through the App Store

    croprcropr
    twolf2919 said:
    lam92103 said:
    Apple should not be able to dictate what over 53% of American consumers can install on their phones. They should not be able to force companies to bend to their rules or just loose 53% of the mobile market
    Apple built the phone and made the rules for software to be allowed on the phone before that "53%" even existed.  People buying an iPhone agree to this bargain.  Apple isn't dictating anything to those 53% or anyone else considering an iPhone - every one of those 53% agreed to follow the rules when they purchased their iPhone.  It's called *choice*.   They had/have plenty of alternatives.

    If Apple made their rules more restrictive *after* a couple billion people bought an iPhone, you might have had a point - but, of course, that's not the case.

    Similarly, Apple also didn't force companies to bend to their rules or just lose 53% of the mobile market.  Apple came up with a smartphone and platform and let third party developers sell their software on this platform, provided they followed the rules Apple felt would make it successful  - i.e. their software needed to go through Apple's review process and only be downloaded via the AppStore (because Apple believed its customers wanted security) and, if those apps sold any digital goods, they had to do so through Apple's payment mechanism and give up 30% of the price of the item (again, because Apple thought it would benefit users to only need to give their payment information to one company - Apple - rather than have it sent to every software maker who might mishandle it).

    Spotify, Electronic Arts, and all the other whiners out there agreed to those terms when they first got onto the iPhone - because they knew it was a win-win situation for everybody.  But then they got successful and greedy and suddenly they no longer want to pay up.  They want to change the rules.

    Individuals who want to force Apple to allow downloading of apps from anywhere on the web should simply buy an Android phone instead of destroying the good thing (security wise) that Apple has built.
    Spotify does not sell software.  Spotify sells a music service.  If you buy the Spotify Premium service, you can enjoy the service on any device you own.  In fact I, personally, am listening to Spotify on a multitude of devices: a Windows PC, Macbook air,  a Linux portable (Dell XPS), an old IPad mini, an iPhone, a Lenovo tablet a Nokia Android phone, a Google Nest speaker and a Philips smart TV   The software used on these devices is free of charge and can be downloaded  without restrictions or is even pre-installed.   What is more,  Spoitify detects on which device I am listening and enables me to switch to another device seamlessly.
     
    So the main question is:   Why would Spotify give Apple a commission when the user wants to extend the Spotify Premium service via an iPhone but not via a Mac, or any other device?  I fail to see the logic.   The security argument is nothing but Apple marketing blah blah blah.  There have been no reported security issues with the Spotify payments on other platforms, nor is Spotify known to sell its customer base to 3rd parties. In fact as a European company Spotify has to strictly be GDPR compliant.  

    I do agree that for games the Apple commission is a different story.   Most games are indeed software with in app puchases.   So it is much more logic here that the game developer pays a fee for the in app puchases 

    williamlondon

  • EU proposes breaking up Google over anti-competition concerns

    croprcropr
    jfabula1 said:
    Ah EU….sorry but Google is not EU company you can bully. Yes you can tax them the right way but ad is their business. If businesses are really hurting then dont advertise on their platform. Simple enough.
    Taxing is not the concern of the European Commission (it are the member states who set up and collect taxes).  The EU commission is primarily concerned about a fair competitive playing field in the EU.  Whatever company that has too much market power in the EU in one domain and abuses this power in another domain, is under the scrutiny of the European Commission.    It appears that Google is abusing its market dominance in the technical ad sales business and the EU is reacting accordingly.    I cannot judge whether this is correct or not, but Google got already 3 times a fine for the abuse of its market dominance, so this is not a complete surprise.       Any EU, American, Chinese, Indian or British (yes they left the EU) company that wants to do business in the EU must comply with the EU rules of fair competition
    sphericronnwilliamlondonFileMakerFellerAlex1N

  • EU regulators ramp up probe into NFC tech at core of Apple Pay

    croprcropr
    person said:
    Do credit card companies make it so you can use the nfc chips in their cards work with other companies?
    I think not

    Be informed.  All chip based credit cards use the same standards.  So any credit card can be used to pay at any vending terminal that supports nfc, and this happens without any security breaches.    You believe too easy the lie Apple marketing departement is telling you that claims that nfc payments with an iPhone can only be safe if Apple is in control the payment app.
    williamlondon