Apple's Giving Up Ground in its App Store Fight With Dutch Regulators and Tinder

Apple announced on Friday that it's once again updated its rules about how Dutch dating apps can use third-party payment systems, after the company had "productive conversations with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM)." From a report: The updated rules give developers more flexibility about which payment systems they use, change the language users see when they go to pay, and remove other restrictions that the previous rules put in place. While the rules aren't wide-reaching (again, they only apply to Dutch dating apps), they do show what Apple's willing to do to comply with government regulation -- which it could be facing a lot more of as the EU and US gear up to fight tech monopolies, and potentially even force the company to ditch the iPhone's Lightning port.

In December the ACM announced a ruling that Apple had to let dating apps use payment services besides the one built into iOS, after the regulator received a complaint from Match Group, the company behind dating services like Tinder, Match.com, and OkCupid. Since then, Apple has proposed a variety of solutions for complying with the order, which the regulator has said aren't good enough. In May, the ACM said that Apple's most recent rules, the ones prior to the Friday update, were improvements over its past ideas, but that they still didn't comply with Dutch and European laws. There's been increasing pressure for Apple to comply: even while the company works on changes, it's been racking up tens of millions of Euros in fines.

Harder to trace

[fermion]

Apple and Google take the same cut. But I can see how âdating appsâ(TM) where the dates receive compensation might benefit from less teachable payment systems.

Re:

[luvirini]

In case of Google, at least traditionally you have been able to use other payment services, but they have been slowly moving towards Apple in that..

Transcript.

[splutty]

Apple: "But. But. MONEY."
ACM: "No. Fuck off."

Re:

[wierd_w]

I was hoping it went more like:

Apple: We require the 30% payment and exclusive payment system, in order to provide the--

ACM (Cuts them off): And we need to protect our citizens from abusive companies; You can either open your payment system, or we can fine you in ways that make your recent fines from the EU regulatory commissions look like charitable donations. Your choice.

Re:

[splutty]

That's very close to what actually happened, but that's not anywhere near as funny!

Re: Transcript.

[SleepingEye]

But but "willingness to comply with government regulation"! What a reality distortion field

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

They (and many other big companies) seem to see laws as optional.

Pretty much anyone with money and power sees laws as optional, and sadly they're mostly right.

Re:

[Calydor]

I think it was meant more in the sense that Apple isn't saying, "Nope, we're out, bye!" but instead seeing what they can 'afford' to do to comply. This creates a precedent for other governments to later say, "Hey, that deal you have with the Netherlands; here's our terms."

one small step

[RegistrationIsDumb83]

Just goes to show how arbitrary and ridiculous the fees are. Now to get them to open up the rest of the ecosystem.

Governments have limited power over economics

[Patrick May]

It will be interesting to see at what point the regulations and taxes imposed by countries like Holland make it no longer worth doing business in their geographies. People have other ways of getting Apple products and there is no reason the servers have to be in the country. It would be interesting to see who would blink first if Apple shut all their stores and told the government to pound sand.

Re:

[Njovich]

Governments won't blink. I'm sure Google, Samsung, Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, etc. would have a good laugh about Apple rage-quitting one of the most tech-company friendly countries in the world over a part of dating app revenue.

Re:

[Patrick May]

Apple wouldn't have to turn down the revenue, just get out of the country and supply hardware and software from subsidiaries elsewhere.

re

[daniel3112]

Now many people are worried about what will happen to tinder after all, since this is their favorite social network for dating, but I can say that flirting chat [sofiadate.com] will definitely come in handy in the future if tinder is closed. Therefore, do not worry, as the loss of one application will not kill the industry. So keep calm