There’s been a heated debate over the past year about whether Apple holds too much power in the mobile software market, thanks to its ownership of the App Store, and whether 30% is too much to take from all payments made via that platform.
Numerous companies have spoken out against Apple’s business practices, in open letters, court testimonies and committee hearings. But one has now taken the opposite side.
Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snap (the company behind Snapchat) has told CNBC that the company has no issues paying Apple’s 30% revenue cut, which he believes is fully justified by the benefits offered by Apple’s software and hardware.
“We really feel like Snapchat wouldn’t exist without the iPhone and without the amazing platform that Apple has created,” Spiegel said.
“In that sense, I’m not sure we have a choice about paying the 30% fee, [but] of course, we’re happy to do it in exchange for all of the amazing technology that they provide to us in terms of the software but also in terms of their hardware advancements.”
The CEO also says that Snap backs Apple’s position on the issue of tracking users between apps, an area where Apple tightened the rules in iOS 14.5.
All of this positivity makes a marked – and, for Apple, pleasant – change from the tone of debate in the Apple vs Epic Games lawsuit, which is starting to wind down.
As the case progressed, Apple’s highest-profile executives took to the stand one by one to defend the company’s practices against accusations of monopolistic behaviour. One common feature of many of these testimonies was an attempt to justify the value that Apple brings to the relationship with software developers, with Phil Schiller, for example, revealing how much money Apple spends on its yearly WWDC get-together.
Schiller will be pleased to discover that one partner, at least, feels the money is well spent.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.
