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Apple Cuts Affiliate Commissions on Apps and In-App Purchases (macstories.net)

Posted by msmash on from the strange-developments dept.

From a report on Mac Stories: Today, Apple announced that it is reducing the commissions it pays on apps and In-App Purchases from 7 percent to 2.5 percent effective May 1st. The iTunes Affiliate Program pays a commission from Apple's portion of the sale of apps and other media when a purchase is made with a link that contains the affiliate credentials of a member of the program. Anyone can join, but the Affiliate Program is used heavily by websites that cover media sold by Apple and app developers.

5 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. But Apple get its 30% cut still. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And you're still not getting a MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM.

  2. Wow! by kamapuaa · · Score: 2

    Now that's what I call courage!

    --
    Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
  3. I am altering the deal by enjar · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pray I don't alter it any further.

    1. Re:I am altering the deal by DogDude · · Score: 2

      If I want to use a smartphone, but can't stand Apple or Google, what do I do?

      You can use a Windows Phone. They work fine, unless you need 1000 different "apps".

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
  4. Re:You got your closed market place by Anubis+IV · · Score: 2

    Abuse? How do you figure?

    This is a kickback program, no different than Amazon's affiliate program. Sites attach their referrer ID to links, and when someone following a link buys an app, the referring site gets a kickback (taken from Apple's cut) on each sale. This is a standard business practice, and all Apple is doing here is adjusting the strength of the incentives they're providing, presumably because they no longer see as much value coming from referrals. There's nothing abusive about reducing incentives.

    Now, this may be a case of Apple shooting itself in the foot, given that these sorts of affiliate programs generally play a role in drumming up business; dropping the incentive from 7% to 2.5% on each sale will result in fewer sites referring people to their store. But considering Apple had neither a legal nor a moral obligation to set up an incentive program at all, it'd take quite the stretch of the imagination to suggest it's some sort of abuse.