More Freakin’ Facebook Follies
Apple Blasts Facebook for ~50% Metaverse Commission
15 APRIL 2022 - When it came out earlier this week that Facebook will be charging close to a 50% commission for apps and such sold in its version of the metaverse, I took umbrage. Facebook has derided Apple in the past for taking commissions in the App Store of 15% to 30%, saying such high rates stifle competition and make it harder for the little guy. You can believe that. Lots of people do. But you can’t then turn around and charge a rate higher than the rate about which you’re complaining. I mean, you can… just ask Facebook.
It was the hypocrisy that got to me. And it seems to have gotten to Apple as well. MarketWatch got a statement out of Apple on the - oh… let’s go ahead and call it an issue, shall we? Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz emailed the business site, saying:
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… 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.
Also, they’re kind of destroying society. My words, not his.
Mobile Analytics Firm Adjust Says More People Opting-In to App Tracking
Earlier this week we heard estimates on how much Apple’s implementation of App Tracking Transparency would cost the social experiment run amok from 2021 through 2022. Close to ~$20 billion, according to some. One assumes that’s based on the number of people refusing to let apps track them, though that number might be getting smaller across the board.
9 to 5 Mac has new numbers from mobile analytics firm Adjust. Data from the 2,000 most popular apps in the firm’s database has more people being cool being tracked. “In May 2021,” the piece says, “opt-in rates were at around 16%.” A year later, the piece says, “that number has grown to 25%…”
Gamers are even cooler with the collection. On average, the piece says “30% of [game] users have allowed developers to collect their data for advertisements.” Particularly popular games really rake it in, though. Some of the most popular tracked by Adjust have hit opt-in rates of as much as 75%. While consent rates vary widely, Adjust says it expects:
…to see a continued upward trend as more users understand the value of opting in and receiving personalized advertisements — something the gaming industry has been most successful in presenting until now.
Oy.
