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Apple just kicked Fortnite off the App Store

(www.theverge.com)
1704 points ardit33 | 7 comments | 13 Aug 20 19:03 UTC | HN request time: 0.737s | source | bottom
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hijklmno ◴[14 Aug 20 07:03 UTC] No.24154700[source]▶
It's not Apple vs. Fortnite. It's actually Apple vs. Users. Apple has been taking us for a ride this whole time. We pay damn much and buy the phone. It is the user's property from then on. What the user install's and uninstall's from his phone should be his decision. Taking a cut of say, 3%, to keep the app store running is forgivable. But 30% digging into users pocket is unpardonable. Apple is no longer the underdog that it was 40 years ago, and some fanboys pretending it to be is despicable. It's a monopoly and the only thing it cares is it's profitability. Despite all the sugarcoated lies Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have been saying to the senate, they are a monopoly. Stop letting them deceive us. Let's take the power back. Stop enabling such deception. Death of a country is determined by it's governance. Death of a society is determined by it's culture and greedy monopolies. The way we can claim our power is by raising awareness to the point that the powers that are will take note and take action.
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mobilemidget ◴[14 Aug 20 07:36 UTC] No.24154969[source]▶
afaik google kicked them out of the store too.

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2020/8/13/21368079/for...

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1. rottingfruit ◴[14 Aug 20 07:44 UTC] No.24155018[source]▶
The reason I, and I assume many others, have less of a problem with that is that you can fairly easily still download and play fortnite without the Play Store. As far as I know that’s not an option on iOS outside of jailbreaking your phone.
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2. mobilemidget ◴[14 Aug 20 07:55 UTC] No.24155092[source]▶
It's App Store policy and payment handling within apps, not so much about being to install it. I don't like to see trillion new payment providers, I also don't like to see monopolies. It's a very long and big discussion.

But I do wonder, can and _would_ you do payments in a non store app with their own payment provider? E.g. the fortnite you have downloaded and installed outside of the play store?

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3. blackoil ◴[14 Aug 20 08:02 UTC] No.24155141[source]▶
We already do it over the internet, there are many players as payment gateway. To secure it, the payment systems need to improve and have proper notifications, 2FA etc. and not rely on benevolence and whims of the monopolies.
4. camhart ◴[14 Aug 20 08:05 UTC] No.24155165[source]▶
The lawsuit is about app distribution on iOS as well as the 30% cut.

There won't be anymore than what the web already has. Stripe or Paypal would likely be popular choices. Payment processors are required by law to be PCI compliant, though that doesn't guarantee they are.

Yes I would do payments in a non app store app with their own payment provider if I felt I trusted the app. It's no different than paying on any website (there's no Apple review process for websites).

5. McDyver ◴[14 Aug 20 08:44 UTC] No.24155446[source]▶
If you already downloaded if from outside the app store, why do you need to use an in-app payment provider?

At this point it's just like any software on your computer, you can pay outside of it, and use a code or similar to indicate you paid for it.

It's only a matter of convenience to want to pay in-app. It can also be a lock-in strategy from the developer - and this is what this whole thread is about.

6. krige ◴[14 Aug 20 09:23 UTC] No.24155687[source]▶
Epic disagrees as they've just filed a lawsuit vs google as well:

https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1294073105376333825

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7. anoncake ◴[14 Aug 20 09:25 UTC] No.24155699[source]▶
Less of a problem != no problem.