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Comment by TheKarateKid | Hacker News Reader

They're playing the long game. Apple wants market usage to build bargaining power with the banks. They saw how the original Google Wallet was blocked from adoption because of control by the carriers and banks. Remember ISIS Mobile Wallet? (That name aged terribly..)

We saw how it took 10+ years and a dominating market position for Apple to show their claws with controlling 3rd parties with the App Store. Make no doubt that once a significant portion of the market uses Apple hardware or services for transactions, that they will want control and a cut of the transaction.

Notice how they say: partner-enabled iOS app

This means Apple has to endorse each 3rd party, and they remain under Apple's control just like app developers.

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> We saw how it took 10+ years and a dominating market position for Apple to show their claws with controlling 3rd parties with the App Store. M

Really? I thought Apple's position was fairly consistent and it took 10+ years for the companies using the App Store to get antsy.

That's a fairly revisionist view of history. Large partners had earlier had special pricing (ex: Netflix) lax enforcement of rules (ex: Facebook). Blowups where Apple presumed the right to levy a fee are also well known (Amazon book sales, Uber fares).

The smaller fish got consistently screwed and no one was happy per se, but the sheer stupidity of Apple's recent actions do not help matters. For example, the app store cut is 30% unless you beg for scraps as a small business at which point you can get 15% until you start making $1 million. Income cliffs aren't how real taxes work (let's be clear here: Apple is pretending to be the government with taxes and fees and shadow court system of app review), they're just how Reagan demonized them back in the day.

Yes, Apple is increasingly competing with Governments of the worlds, in taxation of digital ecosystems, I am sure as they sabotage this market by these steep taxation, their will be blow back from governments as well after lobbying form business, They are not so small now like Nintendo that they can get away with this steep cuts. Problem is that governments will retaliate by arm twisting apple to approve third party app stores, which will be bad for whole iPhone ecosystem.

Fair point about the previous inconsistent enforcement. Thanks

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