A company aiming to take a slice of Apple’s App Store payments has signed up 1,500 developers for the service, but the founders believe Apple has unnecessarily delayed the process of allowing payments.
Paddle aims to provide developers with an alternative to the existing App Store in-app purchase system. While it’s waiting on Apple’s general openness to third-party payments, it’s already managed to gain a sizable following.
According to Business Insider, about 1,500 developers have signed up for Paddle, a group whose work has grossed more than $1 billion in App Store in-app payments. CEO Christian Owens said there was a need for so many and important developers to work with customers outside of the Apple ecosystem.
However, Paddle is at a standstill. App Store policies almost everywhere do not allow alternative in-app payment systems.
In the Netherlands, Apple was ordered by regulators to allow dating apps to accept third-party payment systems but has so far refrained from complying with the order, preferring instead to pay a weekly fine of 5 million euros ($5.6 million), which has continued to roll out 5 weeks (up to 10 weeks fine).
According to Owens, Apple’s reluctance to deal with regulators is “a joke” and at the expense of developers. “In a way, Apple is really trying to stretch the process as long as possible because obviously, the biggest company in the world can afford the ticket,” he said. “I don’t think Apple or the iPhone would have been as successful as they are now if it weren’t for those developers and the rich ecosystem they’re building .”
Although Paddle surfaced as an alternative to iOS IAP in the wake of the Epic-Apple lawsuit, Apple has only mentioned Paddle in one legal filing so far, arguing that the App Store would be abused once it opened. Owens disagrees, as Paddle’s current state suggests that competition could be fierce if alternative payments are enabled.
“We don’t want to brazenly release something that could hurt developers or get them into trouble,” the CEO said, as Paddle is waiting for Apple to change its policy. “We absolutely want to abide by the way Apple decides to implement these things.”
Owens also said that developers wanted a cross-platform payment system, but there were inconsistencies in billing services across multiple platforms. “A lot of our Mac customers are also iPhone customers, but they buy products in these two different places and have to have a completely different experience. At some point, the scales will tip.” The CEO added that he hopes Apple “Embrace change instead of continuing to fight it”.
Beyond the Dutch dating app and the Epic lawsuit, Apple is seeing continued pressure from governments and its home country, the U.S. Congress, to comply and offer alternative avenues for payment. The U.S. Senate Judiciary is also advancing the Open Markets Act, which would force Apple to allow sideloading of apps on iOS.