By The Financial District
Sep 3, 20211 min
For years, Apple has forced users to sign up to subscriptions through its own App Store payment system, allowing the company to take a controversially high share of any profits, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.
Photo Insert: An iPhone user logging on to Netflix
Now, anyone signing up for a Netflix, Amazon, or Spotify subscription will be able to click on a link in the app to circumvent Apple's revenue share on purchases within an app.
The policy shift comes after years of criticism from app developers of a revenue share of between 15 and 30 percent from so-called in-app purchases. So far, the company has tried to prevent developers from directing their users to payment alternatives.
The new policy comes as part of an agreement with the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), allowing media publishers, e-book providers, and other subscription services to offer their customers a link in the app to create an account for paying.
It's Apple's second concession to regulators and app developers in the space of a week.
Last Friday, in another settlement, Apple allowed smaller developers to send app users targeted information about subscription deals outside the App Store. However, users can't sign up for these deals inside the app itself - only outside the app, by email for example.