Who Would Have Thought ?!?!

Apple has allowed developers to take payments outside the App Store !! Voluntarily without a Judgement or Order or any other form of legislation coercing them !! Who would have thought this day would come. 🙂 Atleast I admittedly didn’t.

It’s part of a settlement of course, so perhaps they saw the writing on the wall that the happy music was about to stop. But it still is a big stand down from Apple, a company known to steadfastly contest all suits and claims challenging its walled off ecosystem.

To quote from the report itself:

“The company is “clarifying that developers can use communications, such as email, to share information about payment methods outside of their iOS app,” Apple said in a statement. 

Critically for Apple, the settlement excludes more significant App Store changes that were sought by some outside developers and legislators. The company is still requiring developers to sell their apps — as well as in-app items and subscriptions — using Apple’s payment system, which takes between 15% and 30% in commissions. Apple reduced the cut to 15% for all developers that generate $1 million or less annually last year. On Thursday, it committed to continuing that policy for the next three years.

The settlement also doesn’t require Apple to allow third-party app stores or the so-called sideloading of software. And the company doesn’t have to further reduce its revenue share.” 

According to another report, “Apple also will set up a USD 100 million fund that will pay thousands of app developers covered in the lawsuit sums ranging from USD 250 to USD 30,000. App developers will get more flexibility to set different prices within their apps, expanding the options from about 100 to 500 choices.”

But the stand down doesn’t end here, shifting to news closer to home, South Korea’s National Assembly passed a bill last Tuesday requiring Google and Apple to open their app stores to alternative payment systems in South Korea. The move will definitely have a negative affect on the commissions on digital sales for both companies. Essentially, its an amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act, with the Korea Communications Commission, the Country’s media regulator, with the powers to enforce it.

And now right at home, we even have a Complaint having been filed before the C.C.I. as well !!

The big question – will these lead to reduced prices for consumers in the long run. My personal opinion – No. They’ll remain stagnant. Almost ninety percent of the Apps on both the stores are anyways free. The last ten percent, which comprise of paid as well as in App purchases, have not shown a trend of keeping costs low even when they were alternatives available to having to pay Google or Apple. The best example is Netflix, which has in fact been raising rates over time. Simply put, there are other factors besides an App Store/Play Store commission which determine pricing.

The Best of “Big Tech” (Part – II)

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Following our previous post from yesterday, listed below is the next set of links. Happy reading !!

Rowland Manthorpe, Google’s Nemesis: Meet the British Couple who took on a Giant, Won… and Cost it £2.1 billion (Wired)

Rahul Matthan, Google’s Play Store Policy isn’t Simply About Toll Charges (Mint)

Manish Singh, Indian Startups Explore Alliance and Alternative App Store to Fight Google’s ‘Monopoly’ (TechCrunch)

Prasid Banerjee, CCI Seeks Investigation on Allegations against Google for Play Billing, Pre-Installation of Google Pay on Android Phones (Mint)

R. Jagannathan, Marx Misread Capitalism but We Must not fall into the Same Trap (Mint)

Kelvin Chan, EU Files Antitrust Charges Against Amazon Over Use of Data (AP)

Katie Canales, Apple was Just Slapped with a Lawsuit that Accuses the Company of Monopolizing the Mobile-Gaming Market by Blocking Apps like Xbox Game Pass and Google Stadia (Business Insider)

AP, Google to Pay $1 Billion Over 3 Years for News Content (Times of India)

Marcy Gordon, For Big Tech, Biden Brings a New Era but no Ease in Scrutiny (AP)

The Best of “Big Tech” (Part – I)

1_q0d3YtCWwrN5D_HQ2iE5sQThe past two months were inundated with articles and opinions on “Big Tech”, to the point that with literally everybody fulminating on their respective (and often repetitive and generic) opinions, I got completely put off from writing any of my own. 

Things seemed to have cooled down for sometime though, with a new administration about to take over in the U.S. and the mundane grunt work of investigations underway elsewhere including India, and I thought why not put out a list of the best and most prominent news events and opinions concerning Big Tech ? So listed below, in no particular Order, are in my personal opinion, some must read reports, write ups and op-eds on all that’s been going on since “Big Tech” became the next giant problem to tackle after Climate Change and Inequality. I may or may not agree with everything that’s been written in these, but its always important to read and attempt to understand views contrary to your own as well. 

Salil Tripathi, Saving the News Biz from Google, Facebook (Mint) 

Cheng Leng, Keith Zhai and David Kirton, China preparing an Antitrust Investigation into Google – Sources (Reuters)

Tom Warren, Microsoft Hits Out at Apple with its New Windows App Store Policies (The Verge) 

Shivdeep Dhaliwal, Microsoft Plans to Skirt Apple Ban on Cloud Gaming Apps Via Browser – Based Service (Benzinga)

Mihir Dalal and Prasid Banerjee, Why Vocal for Local Won’t Bother Google (Mint)

Bloomberg Wire Agency Feed, E.U.’s Failure to Hit Google Where it Hurts is a Lesson for U.S. (Mint)

Ajai Sreevatsan, How Big Tech Reset will Impact India (Mint)

Aaron Holmes, Tech Giants have Skirted Regulation because of how Monopolies are defined by law. Democrats Now Want to Rewrite Those Laws (Business Insider)

Gerrit De Vynck and David McLaughlin, U.S. Antitrust Case Against Google Mimics Lawsuit that Attacked Microsoft (Business Standard – via Bloomberg)

AFP, Google Strikes Payment Deal with French Media (Economic Times)

 

The Big Bang Tech.

 

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Things in the media have become typically quiet after the initial flurry of headlines, and as usual, I was supposed to write a lengthy blog post on the antitrust actions against Big Tech , and as usual, it kept getting delayed to the extent that it has now become an exercise in futility. (Man I need to get more disciplined with my writing !! )

So to just bring this to the closure in my own head more than anything else, here is a list of the major and most informative headlines (in no particular order of importance) on the issue:

Silicon Valley pressured as Washington turns up antitrust heat

Unheard for years, smaller fished finally get a say against tech sharks.

On priority: Regulating online giants for financial viability of news business

Senator Warren urges antitrust chief to recuse himself from Google, Apple probes

Four reasons why antitrust actions will likely fail to break up Big Tech

Regulating or breaking up Big Tech: an antitrust explainer