Apple has relaxed a controversial policy that took a 30% cut of payments when video apps on its platform sold television shows and movies.
Amazon.com started taking advantage of the change on Wednesday, selling and renting movies via its Prime Video service on Apple devices without needing to give Apple a share of the money.
“Apple has an established programme for premium subscription video entertainment providers to offer a variety of customer benefits,” the Cupertino, California-based technology giant said in an e-mailed statement. The programme applies to multiple services, including Amazon Prime Video. Canal+, a unit of Vivendi, started participating in 2018. Altice One, a cloud-based video service from Altice USA, signed up in February.
The programme lets these premium services charge viewers via their own payment method instead of Apple’s in-app-purchase system, which takes a 30% cut. “Customers have the option to buy or rent movies and TV shows using the payment method tied to their existing video subscription,” Apple said in the statement.
Apple said the programme also provides a number of other benefits, including “integration with the Apple TV app, AirPlay 2 support, tvOS apps, universal search, Siri support and, where applicable, single or zero sign-on”.
Most other types of apps and services on Apple devices like the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV require the use of Apple’s in-app-purchase system for downloads and upgrades. Some developers, including Spotify Technology, have said Apple’s system is an antitrust issue and have had to raise their prices by 30% for iPhone users to offset Apple’s fees. — Reported by Mark Gurman, (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP
