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SkyDrive 3.0: Microsoft Gave Up Fighting Apple's 30% Cut
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft on Wednesday released SkyDrive 3.0 for iOS out of the blue. Last time the app was in the news, Apple was stopping Microsoft from pushing out an update in the App Store because the company doesn't pay a 30 percent cut of the subscription revenue it generates. Now we've learned how Microsoft managed to update its iOS app today. 'We worked with Apple to create a solution that benefited our mutual customers,' a Microsoft spokesperson told TNW. 'The SkyDrive app for iOS is slightly different than other SkyDrive apps in that people interested in buying additional storage will do so via the web versus in the app.' Does this set a precedent for an iOS version of Microsoft Office?"
It sounds like Microsoft didn't so much as give up, as go around Apple. If you buy on the web, Apple doesn't get the cut. Microsoft got the app into the app store. Pretty much seems like Microsoft got most of what they wanted, and Apple got nothing other than the ability to say their policy is still unviolated. Which, considering the nature of it, isn't exactly a great marketing ploy.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
The majority of iOS users would not want office since they do not use it in a productive manor. They use it to text, play games, and send pictures of their penis's / boobs to random people. no need for an access database to sort your penis pix.
"Does this set a precedent for an iOS version of Microsoft Office?"
No, it means I'm now officially tired of both companies. I hadn't realized that computers had just become red-tape machines instead of facilitators.
I wonder if any developers have bumped up rates for in app purchases (+30%) while still giving the option to buy on the website w/o the premium. Not sure if this would violate any rules, but this would seem to offer customers a choice, while exposing Apple's cut for convenience.
It is against apple's terms. And honestly, it's pretty ridiculous IMO. I don't see how they can both force you to use them for in app purchases, and then dictate that you must pay 30% for anything purchased through the app. Thank god apple didn't create the first web browser or every website that sold products would have to pay apple to do so.
Apple explicitly allows this - I think this goes back a couple years with Kindle stuff. If you sell through apple, they get a cut. If you are going to take money thought the app, you have to do it via the AppStore, thus Apple will get a cut. The other provision is that if you allow you app to merelty talk to an existing "subscription", you can do that. You just cant do purchases, or exchange money through the app. For example, I can go to Amazon's web site and buy a Kindle book and link it to my Amazon account. I can get the Kindle app and look at any books in my Kindle account. I CANNOT however purchase books through the Kindle app while NOT doing this through Apple and the AppStore. This is why you can read Kindle books, but not purchase them via the iOS app.
So Microsoft had to follow the same rules as every other developer...even after all of their stalling & complaining? Either pay the 30% cut to have in app purchases or have the purchase separate on the web & sync it separately.
For you the customer (or potential customer) either the convenience of in-app purchases gets lost, or the purchases cost you 30% more for no good reason. You're happy about this why?
Office is a potential 3 or 4 billion dollar business on the iPhone. That would make Apple roughly 1 billion dollars in revenue, for work they didn't do. Obviously that cost is passed on to customers. It's not just Microsoft -- it's kindle books from Amazon and many other things. Why do you want to pay more?
Apple's rules certainly are clear. That's not the same as saying they make sense. 30% cut, one-size-fits-all-business models? Doesn't make sense.
Pray they don't alter the deal any further.
Companies might have to start issuing license keys in this manner for their s/w to get around Apple's stubbornness..
- Download app for free from the store
- On first launch, app sends you to a webpage where you can buy a license
- Copy-paste license key into app (or something like that)
Apple's basically messing with the user experience by being stubborn.
There is a larger issue at hand I'd expect... subsequent billing... as services like SkyDrive, Office 365, Netflix, etc aren't just used on one device... and tend to be paid for on a regular cycle.
Letâ(TM)s take MS out of it... letâ(TM)s say you buy an iPad, download the Netflix app and sign up for an account (something I do not believe the app supports)... by doing so Apple gets it's 30% cut... each month in theory.
A year or three goes by and you decide to wipe your iPad and buy a non iOS device... in fact, you no longer have any Apple device in your home and now watch Netflix through a Roku or PS3... should Apple still be getting a 30% cut each and every month until you cancel the subscription and re-subscribe?
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Companies might have to start issuing license keys in this manner for their s/w to get around Apple's stubbornness..
- Download app for free from the store - On first launch, app sends you to a webpage where you can buy a license - Copy-paste license key into app (or something like that)
Apple's basically messing with the user experience by being stubborn.
This is not allowed. What is allowed, and many companies do, is that you sign up on their web site and can then access the service on iOS. Or you get free access if you already have the service, the IOS app is just another delivery mechanism - e.g. you get The Economist free on the iPad if you subscribe on paper.