Facebook joined a growing list of developers in publicly criticizing Apple for its revenue sharing policy for in-app purchases, suggesting that the iPhone maker’s fee structure is hurting small businesses during a global pandemic.
The social network on Friday rolled out a paid events feature in 20 countries, offering companies the ability to charge users for access to live video broadcasts, such as a yoga class or a seminar. Facebook said Apple did not agree to waive its usual 30% fee for all transactions that take place within apps on its devices, and it will not allow Facebook to process payments using its own technology for iOS users.
Alphabet’s Google also did not waive its 30% fee on its Android mobile operating system, although the internet search giant will allow Facebook to process payments through its own payment product to avoid those costs, said Fidji Simo, the executive running the main Facebook application. Facebook won’t take a share of the revenue generated by the feature, he said.
Simo called Apple a major partner and said Facebook relies on Apple’s App Store to distribute its own applications, while noting that the company disagrees with Apple’s revenue structure.
Facebook joined a growing list of developers who publicly criticized Apple for its revenue-sharing policy for in-app purchases, suggesting that the iPhone maker’s fee structure is hurting small businesses during a pandemic. world.
On Friday, the social network rolled out a paid events feature in 20 countries, offering companies the ability to charge users for access to live video broadcasts, such as a yoga class or a seminar. Facebook said Apple did not agree to waive its usual 30% fee for all transactions that take place within apps on its devices, and it will not allow Facebook to process payments using its own technology for iOS users.
Alphabet’s Google also did not waive its 30% fee on its Android mobile operating system, although the internet search giant will allow Facebook to process payments through its own payment, the executive. which runs the main Facebook application. Facebook will not keep a portion of the revenue generated by the feature, he said.
“We used our usual channels to strongly suggest that they waive their fee or allow us to use Facebook Pay, one of the two, and they refused,” Simo said of Apple in an interview. Simo called Apple an important partner and said that Facebook relies on Apple’s App Store to distribute its own applications, while noting that the company does not agree with Apple’s revenue structure.
