He was very confused when it disappeared. I imagine most users feel this way. I had to coach my mom to sign up for Pandora on the website so she saved a couple bucks a month, and it was baffling to her why it costed more in the app.
This is confusing for users.
people bought apple hardware and the operating system, not voted them the unilateral governing body on consumer choice in that platform. one should not be taken to imply the other.
Apple's a perfect example of this: they have a long history of making high-quality hardware products loved by consumers at an immense scale with high margins. In a more rational world, that would be "enough", and even if their revenue fluctuated somewhat from year to year, they could still easily support their activities and pay out generous dividends while focusing only on their core competency.
Instead we live in a world where a small drop in demand for a single product based on extrinsic market forces leads to a slew of articles heralding an "end of Apple". So they prioritize service revenue, and continue to squeeze more and more value out of every revenue stream which flows through their products.
It's insane that this is seen as necessary for a company which basically prints money, and sits inside a massive moat of wealth greater than the GDP of many nations.
Then on the payment page:
- Spotify fee: $9.99.
- Apple's cut: $3.33. (When purchased through the app, save online).
- Total: $13.32 > [Purchase Button]
To get $9.99 (for the first year at the 30% rate) it'd be
Spotify fee: $9.99 Apple fee: $4.28 Total: $14.27
When they were charging $12.99 on iOS Spotify was only taking home $9.09 and Apple getting $3.87.
Really goes to show the insanity. Apple probably made more from a Spotify user than an Apple music user. (Of course, they're happy to have an Apple music user for the increased lock in.)
(But as others point out, Spotify showing this almost certainly wouldn't be permitted by Apple).