Comment by ClumsyPilot | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ClumsyPilot | Hacker News Reader

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> "If the Spotify web store is more profitable than the Spotify iOS store, because Apple wants ITS CUSTOMERS to get the same deal"

I am surprised how this unprecedented practice is not widely discussed - I am not aware of any situation in real life where you rent a store and you are told you cannot charge what you want.

There are established limits on what a contract can enforce, an outrageous terms are not considered valid in court. For instance a phone operator could not have penalty of £10,000 for a going over your credit.

I believe this term should be considered outrageous - if apple wants to charge 100% tax, thats fine, but their customers will pay 100% more and then they might have questipms for Apple.

Revenue share and price parity are standard clauses in most department store lease contracts and not at all unprecedented, at least in my experience. My company is routinely told that if we want the lease, we must pay a fixed percentage on sales (usually 25%) as rent, must not list a price higher than can be found elsewhere for an identical item, and all payments must be handled by the department store themselves.

I assume there's a minimum required so the landlord has all upside and no risk. That sounds like a super bad deal. The only way I can see that being practical is if you're getting space in a super exclusive location where the clientele are mega rich and the margins are insane.

I misinterpreted the rules - developers are actually allowed to charge whatever they like, they're just not allowed to say "Actually you can save five quid if you go -> HERE".

Back in the real world, sales assistants may not be allowed to offer deals unless asked first - I know that my partner was basically given very heavy hints to ask if the sales assistant "had any special offers" before he could offer a deal on a new motorbike. I guess this is the same, without the helpful hints. Some people scour the web for coupons and deals, other people pay the full price (and then get extremely cross when the first screen they see in their new app offers a 25% off coupon, yes you, Capture One, you bastards)

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