A hot potato: A lot of the tech industry supports Epic Games' crusade against the 30% commission Apple makes on in-app purchases, but not everyone is against Cupertino's store "tax." Among the latter group is Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, who says his company is "happy" to pay it and that Snapchat would not exist without the iPhone.
"We really feel like Snapchat wouldn't exist without the iPhone and without the amazing platform that Apple has created," Spiegel said on CNBC's TechCheck. "In that sense, I'm not sure we have a choice about paying the 30% fee, and of course, we're happy to do it in exchange for all of the amazing technology that they provide to us in terms of the software but also in terms of their hardware advancements."
Evan Spiegel, a fan of Apple
Apple's 30% commission isn't the only area where Spiegel holds a different view to most of the industry; he also welcomes the company's new privacy tools in iOS 14. Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature brought objections from Facebook and Google-backed ad firms. The social media giant even took out a full-page ad slamming it.
"We're really aligned with them on the changes they're making to help protect privacy," Spiegel said. "And so far, the early investments we made starting almost 10 years ago to protect user privacy on our platform are really paying off." He added that the company has been working to help its advertising clients migrate onto Apple's SKAdNetwork, which helps measure ad efficiency.
The Apple vs. Epic Games trial keeps revealing more details about Fortnite's 30-month run on the store. We heard that the iOS version of the game made $700 million for Epic, while Apple says it took at least $100 million in commission, though the actual figure was likely much higher.