Last week brought a rather dramatic turnaround in one of the longest-lived and perhaps most controversial policies in the App Store when a federal judge has required Apple to allow developers to use their own payment processing from links within their apps. The details of this decision, its merits, and consequences have been widely discussed. I’m not particularly interested in discussing the specific details here.
What really interests me is where this situation came from and where we can constructively go from here.
Let me start off by saying that I am absolutely an idealist; I want to believe the best in all situations. I want to drink the Kool-Aid (as it were) and live in the joyful bliss of optimism. I do that because it allows me to do my best work and make (hopefully) wonderful things. If I am forever distracted by the latest drama and allow myself to be wrapped up in it, I will be unable to focus on the work that I truly value.
A few years ago, I mentioned whatever the developer drama-du-jour was to my wife. She is very aware of the Apple developer business, having been married to me through the 17 years it has been my profession, but she isn’t mired by the day-to-day convulsions of it as I have been. She said something that was brilliantly succinct and insightful:
It sure sounds like Apple has forgotten what made them great.
That really stuck with me.
What drew me to Apple and gave me such affection for them was their professed desire to make wonderful, delightful, exquisite products that surprise and delight their customers. That ethos is both the implied and explicit brand promise. Because their products were so exquisite, they cost more, but that cost was justified by their quality and in an open market customers would choose their products because of their inherent excellence. That is a huge reason why the iPhone wasn’t destroyed by cheaper Android phones. The iPhone was simply better, with great customer satisfaction, and so it won.
Apple may have at one point in history viewed their developer offerings in this light. Seeking to improve their end-user customer satisfaction by building amazing, wonderful developer tools and services that allow and empower their developers to make apps that align with their ethos and values. That doesn’t feel like the case anymore. While there are people and departments within Apple which I am confident feel that way, by and large, at the highest levels, it has been made clear we are viewed as a commodity resource to be extracted from.
I am honestly not all that interested in following Epic, Spotify, Amazon, and others in changing their apps to take advantage of what this injunction allows. I currently don’t have any plans to offer payment outside of IAP.
However, what worries me most is reading the internal discussions at Apple and the posture and thought process that led Apple to this place.
Apple is at its best when it is focused on building great products that serve its customers well. I am a two-fold Apple customer. I buy many of their consumer products and services and enjoy using them in my personal life. I also own a business that is an Apple customer, which has paid Apple a huge amount in the last 17 years for the developer services it has sold me. I don’t begrudge them those fees at all, they have provided the basis and means of my building a business I’m proud of, and I am genuinely grateful to Apple for that.
Where I see Apple’s biggest mistake in their current line of thinking is that while I pay Apple huge sums of money each month, they don’t view me as a customer to be served. They don’t seem to see the benefit of making my experience and offerings better and better. They aren’t trying to win me over by being excellent; they are assuming my loyalty through strong-arm tactics and intransigence.
I’d love to see Apple adopt a new posture towards these things where they win on merit, not by fiat. Apple does have something of value which developers would be happy to pay for: a platform with highly engaged and monetizable users and a large collection of payment accounts attached to those users, which streamlines conversion. This is valuable and Apple has every right to be compensated for this value, but it would be wise to do so in a manner in which both they and their developers win.
For example, selling their payment processing system to developers at competitive rates which are inline with their value. Make your payment processing fees competitive broadly (credit card fees plus fraud and tax compliance), then add on a “convenience fee” commensurate with the conversion enhancement being the built-in provider allows.
Developers aren’t stupid — if they can make more money using Apple’s provided platform…they will! And then both Apple and the developers win. If their interests are aligned, both parties win, and the partnership between Apple and its developer community is sustainable and mutually agreeable.
If Apple serves developers as valued customers, regularly and consistently striving to find areas where we both benefit, then the path forward seems much brighter. Like I said at the start of this, I am an idealist; I want to believe that this change is possible through desire and choice on Apple’s part. That it doesn’t have be handed down to them through injunction and legislation.
Externally mandated change ultimately harms Apple, its customers, and its developers. I firmly believe they’d be much better off choosing a self-directed path of improvement, seeking to act positively rather than with miserly defense.
WWDC is just four weeks away. I’ve had the privilege of attending every WWDC since 2009, and I suspect this year will feel very different from others. This is an opportunity for Apple to reset their developer relationships and make announcements that clearly show a desire for our mutual benefit. I hope to shelve this distraction and get back to work, building wonderful products for this wonderful platform. We’ll see if Apple agrees.
Marco and I discussed this topic on this weeks episode of Under the Radar. Which expands on these thoughts in more depth.