Apple returns fire on Spotify, calling out ‘rumors and half-truths’ over App Store rejection | TechCrunch

It’s good to see Apple take a stance on Spotify’s rampant accusations.

Apple takes a ”15%” cut for any in-app purchases for subscriptions made through its store. To me that 15% is justified because of the following factors:

1. Apple features and promotes apps time and again. A feature almost certainly drives the subscription numbers way up.
– Spotify enjoyed this during the early days of the App Store. This is partially why they became so successful.

2. Apple hosts these apps, takes care of their security, and allows for an easy method of payment internationally, which is secure, so that neither the user or the developer need to worry about exchange rates or the security of transactions.

3. Apple needs to make money from the store, in order to keep it running. If Apple were to stop taking any cut from the apps, they won’t be able to make money from the store.

– Spotify’s point of contention is the 15% cut. With Spotify’s popularity they don’t really need the first two, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise when they’d ask for that 15% cut to be further reduced. If this were an exception, it would be unfair to everyone else on the AppStore. And if everyone were to get 100% of their sales, I’d love to know how Apple would still be running this store 5- 6 years down the line.