iPhone company Apple has been in a years-long battle with Meta, formerly Facebook. The two colossal tech companies have fought for what feels like eons over profit cuts on the Apple App Store. However, with Meta's newly-revealed metaverse plans, Apple finally has the ammo to fight back.
Apple calls out Meta hypocrisy
After news broke of Meta's plans to take a 50% cut of all metaverse sales, Apple immediately fought back. With Meta spending years criticising the iPhone and Mac company for its 30% of App Store purchases, the company has decided to fight back.
In an email to MarketWatch, Apple’s Senior Director of Corporate Communication Fred Sainz called out Meta. Sainz explained that Meta’s gargantuan 50% commission is one of the biggest commissions taken by a major tech company. Additionally, it highlights the hypocrisy of the Zuckerberg-owned company.
“Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store — and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn," Sainz wrote. "Now — Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform. [Meta's] announcement lays bare Meta's hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple's platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own."
Apple's 30% may not be seen as entirely fair for developers, but it has become the industry standard. Many developers — such as Epic Games — have sought to fight the iPhone company over is commission. However, in those cases, the companies that challenge offer lower commissions on their own storefronts. Meta does not.
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Is Meta a greedy company?
Many have seen Meta’s decision to take a 50% cut as proof of the company's greed. After spending years trying to reduce commission prices on rival platforms, the company is pushing for one of the most expensive commissions yet.
In the same MarketWatch piece, Blockparty CEO Vladislav Ginzburg explained that Facebook is greedy in many ways. They said: “Facebook keeps all media uploaded to it, retains all user data and owns every step of the process to sell to marketers. Rather than enable creators to share in the value they bring to Facebook, their goal is to take half of the sale. No thanks.”
Currently, Facebook's Metaverse is in its earliest incarnation. Currently, the virtual world only consists of Horizon Worlds, a VR-chat style social platform. However, if everything goes as Meta intends, the population will one day work, play and relax in The Metaverse.