Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

Classic antitrust maneuver; divide and conquer, this time from Apple. Antitrust activists shouldn't let this dull their pencil.

The main issue is not the exorbitant commission rate. Apple is hurting the consumers via its anti-competitive behavior with regards to what apps people are and are not allowed to install on a device that they've paid for. They are blocking value creation up and down the stack in a manner that "if we can't extract it, you're not allowed to create it."

One could argue that it's pro-consumer since curation of apps supposedly protects them from apps with malicious intentions (yes, the execution of this isn't perfect). It also guarantees a level of software quality associated with their devices.

But what's obviously anti-consumer to me is the in app payment system. They take their 30% cut and forbid you from even hinting at alternative means to pay for something to use in an app.

I love that Apple controls the payment system.

It means I have one place to manage subscriptions, one place with my credit card details, one place to manage family payments and all of it is from a company that can be trusted to do things in a secure and private way.

Do you really want the likes of PayPal or Epic to dominate mobile App Store payments ?