On March 29, according to MacRumors, Apple was fined 5 million euros (about 35 million yuan) by the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority (ACM) a few days ago. In fact, this week marks the tenth time apple has been fined since the Netherlands approved the fine in January, with a total fine of 50 million euros.
The reason for Apple's penalty is still the problem of the payment platform, because of the closed nature of iOS, users can only download apps from the App Store. When recharging in software applications or in-game, iPhone users can only use Apple's own recharge system, which is indeed very domineering, but because it has lasted for many years, many users have become accustomed to it. When I was in college, many of Xiao Lei's friends also taught me how to escape from prison with Apple, and now I ask again, no one has escaped from prison.
In the face of Apple's overbearing decision, users and developers seem to be about to compromise, but the world has never lacked warriors. The famous game developer Epic Games stood out, its game "Fortnite" secretly opened a third-party payment channel, Epic paid for its bravery, "Fortnite" was directly removed by Apple.
Epic and Apple then began to argue in court, and epic won the case, and Apple was asked to open up third-party payment channels. Apple lost, but Epic didn't win, because Apple didn't plan to get Fortnite back on the shelves, and the two companies' beams were completely settled, but the situation facing Apple was more severe.
Many European countries punished Apple, and the Netherlands decided that as long as Apple did not open third-party payment channels, it would continue to impose fines, and the first batch formulated a penalty of 5 million euros per week, and said that after ten fines, the amount of fines would be increased. ACM has stated that if Apple does not give them a satisfactory answer, it will face more fines.
Apple has been reluctant to open up third-party payment platforms, just to be able to make more money, and the App Store has not lived up to Apple's expectations, and its annual revenue is higher than that of the entire Xiaomi Group. Not to mention the profit, the cost of running an app store can be much lower than running a group, such a large piece of fat, how can Apple be willing to give up.
It's just that the commission of the App Store is too high, and users are not allowed to download apps from third-party platforms, and third-party payment channels are not opened, and the pressure on developers is too great. In order to increase revenue, many developers' apps are more expensive than Android on the iOS platform.
Fortunately, consumer rights protection agencies in many countries and regions have targeted Apple and constantly knocked on Apple, requiring it to open third-party payment channels as soon as possible. Now Apple can think about it, it will soon usher in a fine of tens of millions of yuan a week, or only in the Netherlands, in case more countries and regions join, apple really can withstand it?