Tag: fees

technology

Sick of Roaming Fees? Now Your Carrier Is Hurting Too

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The 2020 travel hiatus has lost European carriers some 2 billion euros in roaming fees, according to my calculations based on this year’s earnings reports. That might only be about 1% of their total revenue, but in many cases the drop-off has been enough to make the difference between profit growing and shrinking, trimming earnings for some operators by four or five percentage points. It chips away at their contention that new digital tools are making profitability more resilient.

That’s because roaming is significantly more profitable to carriers than standard phone plans. It can generate a more than 50% Ebitda margin, an earnings measure, compared with the typical 35%, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Erhan Gurses estimates.

It’s a particularly lucrative money-spinner for companies active in the tourist hotspots of southern Europe: the likes of Telecom Italia SpA, Vodafone Group Plc, France’s Orange SA and Spain’s Telefonica SA. Roaming can proportionately account

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technology

Apple Now Letting Developers Enroll for Reduced 15% App Store Fees

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Apple in November announced a new App Store Small Business Program that lowers App Store fees for small business owners and independent developers to 15 percent, down from the standard 30 percent. The program is set to launch on January 1, 2021, and as of today, eligible developers are able to sign up.

app store 15 percent feature


Apple has launched an App Store Small Business Program website that has all of the information that developers need to know, along with signup tools. The program is open to all developers who earn less than $1 million from the ‌App Store‌ in a calendar year, which applies to 98 percent of developers, according to a recent analysis.

When initially announcing the program, Apple promised to provide developers with more information, and has today done so through the ‌App Store‌ Small Business Program website. The site walks through the basics of how it works, answering questions about

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new technology

“Tales From Galaxy’s Edge” VR Launch, Roblox IPO, Apple Reduces Store Fees

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Roblox is going public.  The user-generated game platform is the first company to file for IPO. The company could go public early next year at an $8 billion valuation. Andreessen Horowitz invested $150 M at a $ 4 B valuation in February. Other tech companies are going public in December are AirBnb, DoorDash, and Wish. 

Epic Games acquired Hyprsense, a company which can put your facial expressions directly onto a video game character using a simple webcam. This technology introduces the potential for more dynamic Fortnite avatars to be employed by creators, players,

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technology

Apple to cut app store fees as legal scrutiny intensifies

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SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple will cut its app store commissions in half for most developers beginning next year amid an intensifying debate about whether the iPhone maker has been using the fees to unfairly fatten its profits and stifle rivals competing against its own music, video, and other subscription services.

The concession announced Wednesday will lower Apple’s commissions for in-app subscriptions and other purchases from the 30% rate that has been in place since 2008 to 15%, effective Jan. 1. But the discount will only apply to developers with app store revenue up to $1 million annually — a threshold that excludes the makers of some of the most popular apps downloaded on iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices.

That group includes two of Apple’s fiercest critics, music streaming service Spotify, and Epic, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game.

Both those companies have helped spur increasing

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new technology

Apple slashes App Store fees for most developers

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Apple is chopping by half the long-controversial commissions it charges on the sale of apps and services sold by smaller developers on its App Store, saying it wants to help them grow their businesses amid the economic upheaval caused by the pandemic. 



a group of people posing for the camera: apple-ios-app-economy-creates-new-us-jobs-09022020-big-jpg-large-2x.jpg

© Apple Inc.
apple-ios-app-economy-creates-new-us-jobs-09022020-big-jpg-large-2x.jpg

The new program takes affect January 1, and impacts those making up to $1 million a year in app sales, the Cupertino, California-based technology company said Wednesday in a statement. 

Apple will reduce to 15% from 30% the App Store fee for those developers, along with those new to its store. The revised payment structure will affect the “vast majority” of developers who charge for apps and in-app purchases on Apple devices, the company said.

The smaller commission will help “developers fund their small businesses, take risks on new ideas, expand their teams and continue to make apps that enrich people’s lives,”

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technology articles

Apple to Cut App Store Fees in Half for Most Developers

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The Cupertino, California-based technology giant said it’s making the change to help small developers financially and to provide a way for them to invest in their businesses amid the economic struggles caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Apple has faced ongoing scrutiny from government regulators and criticism from developers about the percentage of revenue it takes for App Store purchases. Alphabet Inc.’s Google also charges similar fees to developers on its Android app store.

Earlier: Apple Loosens App Store Rules a Bit After Developer Backlash

Income from app developers has been key to Apple’s growing services business, which reached almost $54 billion in revenue in fiscal 2020. The App Store is one of several products and offerings that make up the services unit, but is the biggest revenue driver, according to Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein. He estimates the App Store alone will bring in $18.7 billion in

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technology

Apple is slashing its App Store payment fees in half for smaller developers, from 30% to 15%

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Tim Cook wearing a suit and tie: Apple CEO Tim Cook. Karl Mondon/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images

© Karl Mondon/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images
Apple CEO Tim Cook. Karl Mondon/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images
  • Apple announced Wednesday it’s reducing the commission it takes on App Store in-app purchases from 30% to 15% for small developers, starting January 1, 2021.
  • Apple’s price reduction will apply to developers who made up to $1 million in revenue over the last year.
  • Apple has been engaged in a bitter fight over its App Store payments commission with major developers such as Spotify and Epic Games. Its rules have attracted antitrust scrutiny.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Apple just made a surprise move in its ongoing war with app developers.

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Apple announced Wednesday morning it was changing its App Store policies to slash the commission it usually takes from in-app payments for smaller developers, from 30% to 15%.

The cut will apply

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technology articles

Telegram ordered to pay over $620,000 in legal fees over GRAM cryptocurrency lawsuit

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Telegram has been ordered to pay over $620,000 in legal costs to Lantah, the firm Telegram sued over the use of the GRAM ticker. 

Lantah LLC, founded in 2017 by Daniel Jeffery, is a small company that wants to create a “global borderless marketplace” for cryptocurrencies. 

The startup was sued in May 2018 by Telegram over the use of the “GRAM” ticker on the back of the Telegram Open Network (TON) project, in which the secure messaging service secured over $1.7 billion from investors by selling GRAM tokens during an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). 

See also: New Windows RAT can be controlled via a Telegram channel

Telegram accused Lantah of copyright infringement, false designation of origin, and unfair competition. Lantah countered with the argument that the trademark had already been filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2017, as noted by Coin Telegraph.

The battle continued in

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sci tech

India’s plan to pay journal subscription fees for all its citizen may end up making science harder to access

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India, the world’s second-most populous country, is planning to make scholarly literature available for everyone under its latest science, technology and innovation policy.

The policy will push for the whole country to have a nationwide subscription to replace existing subscriptions paid by different research and education institutions to access research journals. The Indian government is in talks with the world’s top scientific publications, including one of the biggest scholarly publishers, Elsevier, to create the system.

If it works, India will become the largest country to give access to paywalled journal articles to more than 1.3 billion of its citizens.

Many scientists have responded positively to the plan. A report by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade argues that the agreement would help identify unnecessary spending due to duplicate subscription.

India spends 15 billion rupees or equivalent to US$200 million a year to access research journals, paid by different research

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