Tim Cook
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
A group of news outlets sent a letter Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is looking for similar deal terms in her App Store that Amazon.com Inc. gets for their video streaming service.
Apple takes 30% of the revenue from most subscriptions in its App Store, then 15% after the first year. But in late July, a congressional anti-trust panel released internal emails showing a more favorable deal between Apple service provider Eddy Cue and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. They have agreed to a 15% revenue share for Amazon Prime Video customers who sign up through the iPhone app and no revenue share for users who have already signed up through Amazon or elsewhere, the emails showed.
Read more: Apple Halved App Store fee for Amazon Prime Video on devices
“We would like to know what conditions our members – high quality digital content companies – must meet in order to be eligible for the regulation that Amazon receives for its Amazon Prime Video app in the Apple App Store,” Jason Kint , CEO of Next Digital Content, wrote in the letter to Cook. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Following digital content represents several news outlets that rely on subscriptions for a large portion of their revenue, including The New York Times, News Corp., which owns the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. The group also represents Bloomberg LP, owner of Bloomberg News.
Earlier this year, Apple said that a select group of streaming video services could use their own payment method, as opposed to Apple’s billing service, and thus avoid giving Apple a cut in its sales.
Read more: Apple lets some video apps sell without cutting with 30% discount
More developers have started complaining about Apple’s App Store fees and regulations, saying they’s unfair and favor Apple’s own services.
Read more: Tim Sweeney of Fortnite comes from Swinging at Apple, Google
As part of an anti-trust lawsuit against the company, attorneys from the Department of Justice are reviewing the Apple rules that many app makers require to use the company’s payment system.
Read more: Apple’s App Store rules are checked in US Antitrust Probe
“We treat every developer the same,” Cook said during the July Congress anti-trust hearing that unveiled the special deal with Amazon.
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