{"id":3125,"date":"2011-03-02T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-02T16:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=3125"},"modified":"2011-03-02T11:31:54","modified_gmt":"2011-03-02T16:31:54","slug":"dirty-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/02\/dirty-percent\/","title":{"rendered":"Dirty Percent"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Apple doesn’t give a damn about companies with business models that can’t afford a 70\/30 split. Apple’s running a competitive business; competition is cold and hard. And who exactly can’t afford a 70\/30 split? Middlemen. It’s not that Apple is opposed to middlemen — it’s that Apple wants to be<\/em> the middleman. It’s difficult to expect them to be sympathetic to the plights of other middlemen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Middlemen often provide valuable services. Apple is not willing or able to replace them all, and even if it did it surely wouldn’t do a superior job in all areas.<\/p>\n

Why not allow developers and publishers to set their own prices for in-app subscriptions? One reason: Apple wants its customers to get the best price — and, to know<\/em> that they’re getting the best price whenever they buy a subscription through an app. It’s a confidence in the brand thing: with Apple’s rules, users know they’re getting the best price, they know they’ll be able to unsubscribe easily, and they know their privacy is protected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is “best price” as in “you can’t buy it elsewhere for less.” However, even if Amazon et. al. find a way to play ball, Apple’s 30% has to come from somewhere. Prices everywhere<\/em> will end up being higher than in a world without this Apple policy. Credit card fees, net the cash-back, are perhaps in the range of 1%, which makes Apple’s fee stand out even more.<\/p>\n

There’s one striking difference between the subscription controversy today and the App Store controversy in 2008: with subscriptions, Apple is taking away the ability to do something that they previously allowed. There was never a supported way to install native apps for iOS before the App Store. Subscriptions sold outside the App Store, on the other hand, were allowed until last month.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And part of the concern is, what’s next?<\/em> In another year or two, will Apple try to regulate and tax more types of goods and services? That has to be the operating assumption now.<\/p>\n

The whole premise of Windows (and other personal computer systems) is that it is open to third-party software. Apple couldn’t just flip a switch and make Mac OS X a controlled app console system like iOS — they had to introduce the Mac App Store as an alternative to traditional software installation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apple can’t flip a switch, but the Mac App Store gives them a ratchet that can produce much the same result over time. There are already some carrots and sticks. App Store apps get automatic installation, updates, and crash reports; non–App Store apps no longer get updated listings on apple.com. The direction of the trend is clear. Would anyone be surprised if future versions of Mac OS X made additional features and APIs available only to App Store apps? There will probably be some sort of pragmatic handwaving<\/a>, just like the iOS App Store was necessary so that apps couldn’t bring down the cell network, but the bottom line is that Apple could<\/em> do these things without the App Store and chooses not to.<\/p>\n

iOS isn’t and never was an open computer system. It’s a closed, controlled console system — more akin to Playstation or Wii or Xbox than to Mac OS X or Windows. It is, in Apple’s view, a privilege to have a native iOS app.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Exactly. Unstated is that Apple sees a future where most devices run iOS, and Mac OS X takes on more characteristics of iOS (both good and bad).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Gruber: Apple doesn’t give a damn about companies with business models that can’t afford a 70\/30 split. Apple’s running a competitive business; competition is cold and hard. And who exactly can’t afford a 70\/30 split? Middlemen. It’s not that Apple is opposed to middlemen — it’s that Apple wants to be the middleman. It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3130,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions\/3130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}