#asides from apple arcade being a subscription service i have an android

[whimsical-sonic]

new sonic mobile game :D

exclusively on apple arcade :[

[aurelliocheek]

Apple’s IAP deal with Amazon and the beginning of a new era

Last week, Amazon’s Prime Video app on iOS began offering users the ability to purchase and rent video content via Amazon’s payment system, bypassing the iTunes in-app purchase payments process on iOS. This is an enormously significant development: Apple has historically exerted tight control over payments on iOS by forcing developers to use the iTunes IAP payments process that levies a 30% platform fee on all transactions.

Developers have begrudgingly paid the 30% tax on IAP transactions on both iOS and Google Play for years, but as a number of high profile developers began moving their app transactions to the web in order to avoid these platform fees, a sea change seemed imminent. Netflix and Spotify encourage users to transact on the web so as to avoid using the iTunes payments system; YouTube last month went so far as to cancel all active iTunes subscriptions to force those users to subscribe via the web.

But a web-based payments flow isn’t ideal; it’s a bad user experience (a user has to leave an app, open a mobile website, log into the service, and enter their credit card information), and it’s also simply inconsistently implemented across the iOS ecosystem. Apple has been engaged in a sort of cold war with very large companies that operate across many platforms — Spotify, Netflix, YouTube were able to get away with bypassing iTunes payment processing on mobile because they could always claim that users may have discovered their services on any number of platforms (desktop, connected TVs, etc.). But by tacitly accepting the web payments workaround, Apple signaled to developers that allowing for non-iTunes payments on iOS was inevitable. With Amazon’s adoption of its own payments system for the Amazon Prime iOS app, that moment is upon us.

John Gruber has an excellent overview of how the new Amazon Prime payments process works on iOS, but as a succinct overview:

Existing Prime account holders can now purchase and rent videos in the Prime iOS app via the Amazon payments process with the credit card attached to their Amazon account;

Anyone who upgrades to a Prime account via the iOS app still has to do so via iTunes payment processing, which means Apple takes their 30% / 15% cut of that subscription;

Users who subscribed to Prime via the iOS app will pay for any movies rented or purchased via the iTunes purchasing system.

Apple provided a statement about the new arrangement with Amazon to The Verge:

Apple has an established program for premium subscription video entertainment providers to offer a variety of customer 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. On qualifying premium video entertainment apps such as Prime Video, Altice One and Canal+, customers have the option to buy or rent movies and TV shows using the payment method tied to their existing video subscription.

Parsing this passage reveals some vital information:

Amazon is taking part in an apparently pre-existing program that also includes Altice One and Canal+;

In order to qualify for the program, Amazon had to integrate the Prime Video app with a number of other Apple’s features and services.

Given that this is an explicitly designated developer program, it stands to reason that participation isn’t open to the development community at large: it’s very likely that preferential payment terms were negotiated between Amazon and Apple in order to entice Amazon to cooperate.

Given that, one might wonder if this development is actually meaningful. That two of the world’s largest companies negotiated a mutually-beneficial commercial partnership within the context of a narrowly-scoped, invite-only developer program doesn’t have broad implications for the developer ecosystem. But I think the deal struck between Amazon and Apple reveals something very significant that will eventually impact the degree to which the iOS platform remains rigidly controlled by Apple: that pricing power has shifted from Apple to developers, and Apple no longer gets to set commercial terms.

I’ve long maintained that Apple can’t be classified as a monopoly because of the 30% platform fee or because it doesn’t allow third-party app stores within the iOS ecosystem. Monopolistic power is fundamentally related to the ability to be a price setter: to dictate prices because, through lack of competition, consumers have no choice but to purchase from a single firm. But in the case of smartphone apps, Apple doesn’t actually transact with end users — it merely operates a marketplace that connects app developers (sellers) with the people that own Apple hardware (buyers). Apple’s relationship with developers is that of an agent, and developers certainly have more options than just iOS in terms of distribution platforms for their apps. Apple doesn’t even have a majority of smartphone sales market share; how could it be a monopoly?

This price setting property is important when considering a monopoly. If Apple increased its platform fee to 40%, or 50%, what would happen — would all developers simply accept that? And if so: why isn’t it happening? In fact, the opposite is happening: Apple reduced its platform fee for year-2 subscriptions in June 2016 and Google followed suit for Android shortly thereafter in October 2016 (monopoly accusations aren’t leveled at Google over platform fees because Android allows developers to transact directly with users outside of Google Play). If Apple enjoyed monopoly pricing power, it wouldn’t be engaged in a slow-motion race to the bottom with a competitor that owns more marketshare than it does.

Some proponents of the Apple as monopoly worldview argue here that within the iOS ecosystem, Apple exists as a monopoly because it doesn’t allow for competing stores. This re-scoping of the situation blurs some logical lines (both consumers and developers still have choice: Android is larger than iOS!), but even putting that aside, Apple doesn’t qualify as a monopoly within this perspective because Apple doesn’t sell anything — it connects buyers and sellers as a marketplace operator. If anything, Apple in this case might be considered a monopsony, or a firm that enjoys exclusive buyer status: a monopsony is the only party to whom goods or services can be sold and can thus set prices in a way that maximizes its profit regardless of market forces.

But there’s no marginal cost of production for software, and given that Apple takes a percentage of in-app purchase revenues and not a fixed fee per purchase, both Apple and developers are incentivized to maximize revenue through appropriate pricing. This is the whole reason the freemium model rose to prominence on mobile in the first place: developers, not Apple, began reducing app prices until most settled at $0 simply because the competition for attention in the ever-crowding App Store was so ferocious. In fact, Apple seems to host a non-trivial amount of antipathy for the freemium model, as is evidenced with its Arcade product.

Coming back to Amazon: it is clear with this deal that turning a blind eye to the web payments workaround on iOS is ultimately leading to adoption of third-party payments. Far from being a monopoly, Apple is competing for users in a very crowded platforms marketplace: a tightly integrated system in which almost all participants not only operate platforms but also publish content on other companies’ platforms — a matrix of content stores and content.

The calculus that Apple is dealing with is: at what point does the total surface area of this matrix begin to influence the way Apple polices its own slice of the matrix? As consumers are presented with ever-increasing opportunities to consume their favorite content, when, for example, does the incremental value from offering frictionless access to Prime Video content on iOS outweigh the incremental revenue from 30% of a poorly-integrated Amazon Prime on iOS?

Obviously that decision isn’t restricted exclusively to Amazon Prime: Apple will have to begin to decide how this matrix, which represents consumer choice and optionality, will influence the freedom to which it allows developers to operate on iOS. But a decision like the one that Apple made with Amazon seems unlikely to not cascade out to other developers into a more comprehensive platform policy.

Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash

The post Apple’s IAP deal with Amazon and the beginning of a new era appeared first on Mobile Dev Memo.

Apple’s IAP deal with Amazon and the beginning of a new era published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

[josephlrushing]

Takeaways from Apple’s Annual September Event

2020 has taken away a lot, but perhaps it has given us even more. And with brands like Apple, who tend to do the absolute most when it comes to their keynotes, yesterday was a welcome surprise. As the resident Apple Fanboy for GearDiary, it’s only right that I give my take on things.

So to start of the keynote, our favorite person Tim Cook came on and set the stage and proved Jon Prosser to be a trustworthy source for leaks by immediately letting us know not to expect anything about the iPhone. He probably turned off many people with this, but it was to be expected Apple would do this after weeks of speculation about the production of iPhones JUST beginning. Knowing this, the first five minutes of the conference saved us all a bunch of time between random overused terms like “utterly fantastic,” “Remarkable,” and “trendsetting” you’d typically hear for 4-5 minutes. In the same spirit, I wanted to quickly highlight the essential things and a few that Apple didn’t highlight. Let’s start with the Apple Watch.

Apple Watch

Apple decided to start the keynote by introducing the Apple Watch Series 6. If you have the series 5, you’ll probably end up skipping this altogether because the only real additions are the new Blood Oxygen feature and the ability to monitor your elevation continuously. While this probably would’ve been nice to have all spring and summer for hiking, and certainly could’ve been in Apple Series 5, we know Apple has to save something for the next series. The former is the main highlight of series 6, with Apple explaining it as:

Apple Watch Series 6 expands the health capabilities of previous Apple Watch models with a new feature that conveniently measures the oxygen saturation of the user’s blood, so they can better understand their overall fitness and wellness. Oxygen saturation, or SpO2, represents the percentage of oxygen being carried by red blood cells from the lungs to the rest of the body, and indicates how well this oxygenated blood is being delivered throughout the body.

To compensate for natural variations in the skin and improve accuracy, the Blood Oxygen sensor employs four clusters of green, red, and infrared LEDs, along with the four photodiodes on the back crystal of Apple Watch, to measure light reflected back from blood. Apple Watch then uses an advanced custom algorithm built into the Blood Oxygen app, which is designed to measure blood oxygen between 70 percent and 100 percent. On-demand measurements can be taken while the user is still, and periodic background measurements occur when they are inactive, including during sleep. All data will be visible in the Health app, and the user will be able to track trends over time to see how their blood oxygen level changes.

Aside from that, the Series 6 Apple Watch will include an “enhanced” Always-On Retina display that Apple states is up to 2.5 times brighter than the Series 5, making it easier to see the watch in bright sunlight. I mentioned earlier about the always-on elevation feature, which Apple calls the Always-On Altimeter. It will not only be power-efficient but will allow for small elevation changes above ground level, which is great for not just hiking, but biking, walking, you name it.

The Series 6 comes with a new variety of colors, including Product Red, a striking blue, and even a new graphite color that I’m partial to. They will look great with Apple’s New Braided Solo Loop, or the “normal” solo loop, which essentially is the Apple silicone band you’re used to from Apple, without the additional tabs. It’s a more custom fit watch band with an overly complicated method or trying the band on.

In practice, you have to print out a document that you end up cutting and putting on your wrist to measure the perfect size. I feel like this was one of those missed opportunities for Apple to showcase all of those AR functions that most of us are wowed by, but never actually use that they spend 25 minutes raving about updating ever year. Just a thought.

Aside from Series 6, there’s the Apple Watch SE, which for all intents and purposes, is the replacement for the Apple Watch 4, and ultimately the Apple Watch 5. It has the same modern design, with the fall detection, Emergency SOS, Noise app, and always-in altimeter, but to justify the price, Apple took away the ECG (we can’t all have it all). It will feature all the fitness features, the health functionalities you’d expect from Apple. Essentially the Apple Watch SE is the “entry-level” Apple Watch, and at $279, its a great Christmas gift for a teen or spouse who doesn’t overthink how they’d use the Apple Watch.

Sidenote: One HUGE takeaway for me that I wish Apple would’ve spent more time on is the family aspect of Apple Watch. Without saying too much, they mentioned the ability of family sharing Apple Watch so you can track your children, ping them if need be, and all without the need of the rumored “Airtag.” This was huge for me.

Apple moved on from the Apple Watch to discuss their iPads, which was not a surprise to anyone.

8th Generation iPad

Apple seems to have taken notice of Chromebooks cornering the distance learning market and opted to update their Touch-ID enabled iPad finally. At $329, the new iPad features an A12 Bionic processor that, according to Apple, is six times faster than the best selling Android tablet and Chromebooks. This is interesting because I feel like this is an announcement they could’ve done over the summer; with the number of students returning to school, this would’ve been better represented being a must-have back to school item by the company. Time will tell if this will be a success, but luckily the 8th-gen iPad has a $299 price tag for education purposes and has Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard compatibility.

iPad Air

Okay, I have to admit, as an iPad Pro user, the iPad Air was something I had my eyes on immediately. Featuring a 10.9-inch “Liquid Retina display” True Tone Technology, P3 wide color, and an antireflective coating. The biggest takeaway here, though, is instead of offering FaceId, the iPad Air includes Touch ID directly from the Power Button, which in my honest opinion, should have always been a thing and will more than likely happen with the iPhone 12 (hopefully). With a resolution of 2360 x 1640 complete with full lamination, it has me looking at my 2018 iPad Pro skeptically. What’s more, it works with the Magic Keyboard and the second-gen Apple Pencil, and it costs $599 to start.

Aside from the hardware, Apple shined by announcing two more announcements: Apple Fitness+ and the Apple One Bundle.

Both arriving later this year, Fitness+ by Apple incorporates metrics from the Apple Watch for users to visualize directly to their iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. Pretty much a head-on competitor for many fitness apps, I felt this to be a direct shot at Peloton, who recently released their new Bike+ that comes complete with Apple Watch functionality. Aside from the ability to properly track biking, Fitness+ does a bit more, regardless if you are a beginner or a gym guru. Complete with World-Class trainers, Fitness+ intelligently suggest new options to match your workouts to keep your routines fresh. And if you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you can fine-tune your workout type, trainer, duration, with your favorite music to save and listen to later. According to Apple:

When a workout is selected and started on iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, the correct workout type will automatically start on Apple Watch. During the session, the metrics from Apple Watch are shown on the screen and come to life for moments of inspiration. For example, when the trainer says to check heart rate or begins a countdown timer, those numbers will animate on the screen. And for customers who like to push themselves with a little healthy competition, the optional Burn Bar shows how their current effort stacks up against anyone who has done the same workout previously.

The familiar Activity rings from Apple Watch also appear onscreen, highlighting the wearer’s progress and launching an animated celebration as they close. With Activity Sharing, users can enable friends and family to see Fitness+ workouts completed, and workouts can also be shared to their favourite social media channels.

At the launch, Apple Fitness+ will be available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US for $14.99 a month or $119.99 a year. If you purchase an Apple Watch Series 3 or later on or after 9-16-20, you’ll receive a three-month trial, but everyone else gets a month trial. Alternatively, you can purchase Apple One, which is my favorite part of this keynote.

I told my Twitter followers and our GearDiary group chat that all I wanted from Apple was a bundle of their services, and that’s precisely what they are starting to offer in Apple One.

Starting at $15 a month, Apple One offers three plans: Individual, Family, and Premier. As you can tell from the photo, the Individual is great itself as you get Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud storage (50GB). The Family plan version offers the same, but you’ll get 200GB of storage, which is more than enough for some. However, if you’re like me, you’ll want the Premier plan, and there are plenty of reasons why.

At $29.95, not only do you get all four of the items that the individual and Family plans get, but you also get 2TB of storage versus 200GB from the Family plan, Apple News+, and the new Fitness+ (this is the only plan that includes Fitness+, by the way). Alone, the Apple Music Family subscription is $14.99, and iCloud storage is $9.99. So being able to have everything at your disposal for a bundled price ends up saving you money in the long run. According to Apple, the Premiere plan will save you roughly $25 for all six services instead of buying them separately. I just canceled Dropbox because I now have 2TB from Apple for less money than Dropbox’s $20 a month tier, with more benefits, including workouts, news, and even a streaming service.

Overall I think Apple is still heading in the right direction, and the Apple One bundle is the most significant step they’ve taken in a long time. I’m hoping that their competition and other services will begin bundling their products to make them look more appealing to consumers, but only time will tell (Looking at you, DirecTV Now).

You can watch a recap of the Apple event here. 

How did you feel about Apple’s keynote? Do you intend to purchase an Apple Watch or iPad on release day (September 16th)? Will you be buying in on Apple One or Apple Fitness+? Let us know in the comments!

The post Takeaways from Apple’s Annual September Event first appeared on GearDiary.

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/09/16/takeaways-from-apples-annual-september-event/