Even if the Dutch revenue isn't that much, once one country succeeds the rest will follow that model. Apple and Google are just going to delay as much as possible, and when their delay tactics no longer work, eat the fines until they're higher than the profits.
This is a nice article [1] about what the ACM is asking for and why Apple is making an effort to comply.
Also, this lawsuit is for dating apps specifically, but should pave the way for other categories to follow right?
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/14/22917514/apple-netherland...
The point of contention here isn’t about the Netherlands, but about whether the Dutch ruling will apply de facto globally. Apple wants to ensure it doesn’t, by requiring Netherlands-specific apps if enabling third party payment processors. The ACM wants it to apply globally.
The issue here is Apple is trying to frustrate any attempts to circumvent their payment processing: By both still demanding 27% fees, and also requiring they publish a separate app (likely requiring users to uninstall the main app and install the new one), Apple is trying to make it so onerous and painful to use third party payments that nobody will actually do so in practice.
In the court case that led to this, the court required Apple to support third party payment processors, but rejected the claim that their 30% cut was outrageous.
The EU also has regulations limiting how much payment services such as Mastercard can charge. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_13_...: “caps are set at 0.2% of the value of the transaction for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards“
Given that, I don’t see how the same court could say a 3% margin for third party payment services is unfair.
Requiring a new app, on the other hand, is the trouble area. It means losing App Store reviews, and, probably more importantly, means users can’t seamlessly upgrade to a version that supports a third party payment service.
Also, if you retire the old app, you likely will lose subscribers. If you keep it around, you’ll likely see few users move to the new app.
I think the apps here would be front ends to the same dating network.
That calls for making it as easy as possible to migrate. Downloading a new app and deleting the old one is harder for users than using the iOS auto-update mechanism, so developers would prefer to have the ability to update their app with one that offers a subscription through a new payment service.
Developers can force users of the old app by retiring it, but they can’t force them to download the new one. Chances are some users will think “what do I get out of this app?” and not download the new one. That’s the “losing subscribers” part.
Because of that, I can see why Apple isn’t giving up the golden goose at the moment.
This. Most users won’t bother, so they’ll default to using Apple as a payment processor. Everyone knows the power of defaults.
But doing this now, while this case is ongoing, will very quickly earn them a contempt of court badge,