(Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Friday that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) had rejected his request to waive a 30% commission fee, the iPhone maker charges apps called on iOS devices, and made a shot at his fellow Big Tech peer when developers challenged the policy.
FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen placed on a keyboard in this illustration March 25, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration
The move is the latest salvo in a long-running cold war between two of the most powerful tech companies in the world, who have clashed over their approach to user privacy as both have regulatory checks on suspicious anti-competitive behavior.
Facebook said it asked for the exemption so small businesses would not have to pay Apple’s cut for a newly paid online event product that the world’s largest social media company launches on its core platform.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, Apple removed the popular video game “Fortnite” from its app store for violating its in-app payment policies, leaving a backlog online and asking developer Epic Games to file a federal anti-trust case that violates Apple’s rules challenges.
Apple charges a cut of between 15% and 30% for most in-app subscriptions and payments, though there are some exceptions for companies that already have a credit card in place for iPhone customers if they also make a payment in- offer app that would benefit Apple.
Developers have long criticized the commissions, such as Apple’s ban on retrieving customers for sign-ups from outside, and what some developers see as an opaque and unpredictable app-vetting process.
A mock-up of the product of new events on iPhone, provided by Facebook, showed that the company plans to tell users that Apple would take 30% of the purchase.
Google (GOOGL.O) also typically charges a 30% commission for payments within apps on their Android devices, although it was not immediately clear whether it would charge a fee in this case. In its Android mock-up, Facebook only notes that it would not charge a fee without disclosing its settlement with Google.
Google declined to comment on its product compensation scheme, and Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
Facebook also did not say whether it has tried to take advantage of Apple’s “multiplatform” exceptions.
The revelation is likely to spark a nervous breakdown with Apple, whose App Store urges developers to discourage the use of their in-app purchasing system. Spotify has said in the past that Apple has rejected its attempts to communicate with users about the fee structures.
Fiji Simo, head of Facebook’s core app, announced the tool in a media conference call with small business owners praising it as a way to reach customers and earn revenue online during the coronavirus pandemic.
She said Facebook “considered it important to be transparent when people support small businesses,” because users may not be aware that part of their payments “could go to a nearly $ 2 trillion business.”
Asked if she thought Apple would approve the change, even with language about fees that could discourage users from using the in-app purchasing mechanism, she said she expected to find out “in the next few days”.
Report by Katie Paul in San Francisco and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Additional Reporting by Stephen Nellis and Paresh Dave in San Francisco; Edited by Maju Samuel and Sonya Hepinstall
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