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Tinder Bypasses Google Play Joining Revolt Against App Store Fee (bloomberg.com) 104

Posted by msmash from the thanks-for-all-the-fish dept.
Tinder has joined a growing backlash against app store taxes by bypassing Google Play in a move that could shake up the billion-dollar industry dominated by Google and Apple. From a report: The online dating site launched a new default payment process that skips Google Play and forces users to enter their credit card details straight into Tinder's app, according to new research by Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter. Once a user has entered their payment information, the app not only remembers it, but also removes the choice to swap back to Google Play for future purchases, he wrote. "This is a huge difference," Schachter said in an interview. "It's an incredibly high-margin business for Google bringing in billions of dollars," he said.

Apple and Google launched their app stores in 2008, and they soon grew into powerful marketplaces that matched the creations of millions of independent developers with billions of smartphone users. In exchange, the companies take as much as 30% of revenue. The app economy is expected to grow to $157 billion in 2022, according to App Annie projections. As the market expands, a growing revolt has been gaining steam over the past year. Spotify Technology filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission earlier this year, claiming the cut Apple takes amounts to a tax on competitors. Netflix has recently stopped letting Apple users subscribe via the App Store and Epic Games said last year it wouldn't distribute Fortnite, one of the world's most popular video games, through Google Play.
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Tinder Bypasses Google Play Joining Revolt Against App Store Fee More

Tinder Bypasses Google Play Joining Revolt Against App Store Fee

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  • How could you pass that up? (Score:5, Funny)

    by ArhcAngel ( 247594 ) on Monday July 22, 2019 @03:49PM (#58968306)
    I mean the headline "Tinder Swipes Left on Google Play Store" practically writes itself!!!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      #1 I had to look up wtf tinder was and more importantly
      #2 wtf/.?! A fscking dating app leaves the play stor?! Wtf cares and the important part why is this even a story/headline on /.?

  • Bad move (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Monday July 22, 2019 @03:50PM (#58968310)

    How long until Tinder is hacked and credit card details leaked?

    The thing I like about in-app purchases for app features, is the distance my data has from the app companies.

    It means that an app maker will not have my payment details, which I never wanted them to have.

    Usually it means the app maker will only have what personal details I choose to provide them - if they are taking payment directly, then have my entire real name and address and probably some other information they demand you provide.

    It also makes sign up a lot harder and more imposing, I have to think they will see subscription decline because of this step...

    Netflix went to a model at the end of December where they don't allow subscription via the App Store anymore, and they suddenly have a quarter where for the first time they lose, instead of gain, subscribers. HMM.

    I can see where you'd get tired of having a middle-man scrape money off the top of your payments but they are providing a lot of value for customers, you get rid of that value at your peril.

    • Re:Bad move (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mattyj ( 18900 ) on Monday July 22, 2019 @03:53PM (#58968340)

      I was thinking this is a real Sophie's Choice situation. Which evil corp. do you trust to store your CC info?

      • I was thinking this is a real Sophie's Choice situation. Which evil corp. do you trust to store your CC info?

        Yeah I get that angle as well, but so far I think Google and Apple both have managed not to leak payment details - I can't remember any stories along those lines and a search turns up nothing, so I think they have a better track record than even other large companies who regularly seem to have breaches.

        But the main reason I like this situation is that a payment handler has as I said all kinds of deta

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jythie ( 914043 )
          I think a critical piece is that Google and Apple want people to be customers for a long time, while Tinder depends on high turnover and constant waves of fresh meat. This is going to shape how they perceive problems with upsetting current users.
      • It is Visa's problem more than mine, last time my number got snagged I think they even took care of telling my recurring bill providers the new number for me. It is actually kind of shocking how easy they've made it to proceed as if nothing had happened when your number gets stolen.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DogDude ( 805747 )
      I'm confused. So instead of just "the app" having your details, you prefer that "the app" AND Google have all of your information?

      • So instead of just "the app" having your details, you prefer that "the app" AND Google have all of your information?

        They do not though.

        Google/Apple have payment information only. They do not have or know account or activity details for an individual application to tie back to your address and real name.

        The app makers have whatever else you choose to give them; for many apps that is nothing except maybe a userID, that you create. If an application does require your real name, you can simply say no thanks a

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Apps don't get your payment info. They can see your Google identity and issue a payment request against it. That's it.

        On the backend, Google bills your credit card, takes their cut, and pays the vendor.

        How tf did you not know this?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Netflix's bad quarter was due to an ill-advised price hike. Correlation != causation.

      • Netflix's bad quarter was due to...

        I just implied something, you are stating directly your idea is so...

        The fact is both were done around the same time so we'll never know the impact of either change independently. I agree what you say, probably had some impact, but I think the threshold to add a subscription was probably higher and the figure affected most was a miss in adding new subscriptions.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by guruevi ( 827432 )

          The threshold where a little bit of inconvenience drops a massive amount of monthly subscribers does not exist. Netflix subscriptions are being billed automatically anyway, so the act of cancelling your Netflix is more inconvenient than the cost itself.

          The major problem with Netflix is that they doubled the cost in about 5 years. It used to cost just $8 in 2014 and sales taxes didn't apply, now it's $16 + taxes and fees, some people are paying $21+ for Netflix. They stopped fighting the illegal sales tax co

    • Your logic is all wrong and only empowers the entrenched players. A 30% cut is daylight robbery,plain and simple and it gives apple/google even more of your data. Virtual Cards/Wallets can easily solve the problem of having to trust 100 companies with your CC details.

  • ...Once a user has entered their payment information, the app not only remembers it, but also removes the choice to swap back to Google Play for future purchases...

    This is a modified Chrome-esque MO... It has worked for Chrome if I may add.

    Modus Operandi:

    Delist the thing from Google Play...

    Return defective links for searches relating to the thing...

    Watch [with joy] as those with similar thoughts are forced to think twice.

    • Delist the thing from Google Play..

      Google is not Apple.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Delist the thing from Google Play..

        Google is not Apple.

        Doesn't matter. Google's terms of service mandate if you wish to accept payments, you have to do it through Google unless Google doesn't not offer it in the country.

        They did this shortly after implementing in-app purchases after seeing how many developers were using Paypal to pay for free apps.

        Google delists apps for many of the same reason Apple does. Violating the terms of agreement is one of them.

        Anyhow, I guess we'll have stories about Tinder gettin

  • Wow (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Monday July 22, 2019 @04:27PM (#58968580) Journal

    "...and forces users to enter their credit card details straight into Tinder's app, according to new research by Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter. Once a user has entered their payment information, the app not only remembers it, but also removes the choice to swap back to Google Play for future purchases"

    There's so much wrong there I hardly know where to start.

    Enter my credit card details straight into Tinder? And when I do that I can't go back?

    They must have stayed up late dreaming up the most obnoxious features they could add.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jythie ( 914043 )
      Tinder currently has the largest user base, so if you want a hookup, they are the place to go, and thus the can afford to be abusive.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I hope everyone does this so that app stores are forced to stick to their primary function,instead of extorting a 30% cut on all sales through their platform,which is passed on the customer anyway.
    • Bandwidth for serving the app's store page and downloading the app itself isn't free.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Xenx ( 2211586 )
        Plus all the testing and everything else involved on the back end.
      • Which is why aApple charges 100$ yearly from all developers,which tells me you have never developed an app. Google charges a much smaller fee at the time of account creation and I don't see why they can't move to the Apple model. This will also eliminate half of all fake,fraud apps.
        • Apple charged that fee waaaay before the App Store (or iPhone) was invented which tells me I've been developing waaaay longer than you think. In fact, I've been developing so long that I pay no fee at all because I'm grandfathered in from a time when there was no fee (back when it wasn't at all clear Apple was going to survive as a company so they were doing everything possible to attract developers).

  • Too Easy to Unsubscribe (Score:4, Insightful)

    by KalvinB ( 205500 ) on Monday July 22, 2019 @05:39PM (#58969042) Homepage

    That's the real issue. Google Play makes it impossible for companies to hide behind nonsense that exists solely to prevent people from unsubscribing from the monthly fees these companies want to charge.

    Give Tinder your credit card information and good luck finding their hidden unsubscribe button if they even have one. Now they can make you email them and/or provide additional information just to stop paying them every month.

    The idea that these 3rd rate companies care about fees is a farce. Low quality sites always pay high fees for processors because of charge backs when the spouses find the accounts.

    They're willing to pay higher fees to not be with Google because they'd rather deal with charge backs than easy account cancellations.

    • The idea that these 3rd rate companies care about fees is a farce. Low quality sites always pay high fees for processors because of charge backs when the spouses find the accounts.

      Well now Tinder will be charged back by their credit card payment processor, rather than by Google. And that will entail fees too. So how exactly will they win?

  • The jokes. They just write themselves.

  • "In exchange, the companies take as much as 30% of revenue."

    No, they take 30% of the app store/in app purchase price. That's a subset of revenue, not all of it.

  • Google built the platform. They built the store. They maintain it and it's pay to play. De-list Tinder. Your complaints about walled gardens and milking the user are pretty hollow if you aren't actively working on an alternative.

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