[pentae]

It's 30%. It's only 15% after 12 months of a customer rebilling which is statistically insignificant number, and it was only done as a carefully orchestrated PR move to make people think 15% when it's really 30 - as you have demonstrated

[ralfd]

Is it statistically insignificant? My guess would be that sooner or later most subscribers are long term customers.

[dangus]

It’s statistically insignificant because churn rates on subscription services are higher than you’d think.

A typical customer lifetime might be somewhere between a year and two years, unless you happen to be a giant like Netflix.

Let’s say you expect your customer to churn after 14 months, so that means you only enjoy 2 months of Apple’s reduced royalty rate. Your total average rate is 27%.

This concept is why many sunscription services are able to offer lifetime subscriptions. They have already figured out what one customer is worth based on churn rate, so the lifetime subscription is set up to be a price that matches or exceeds that number.

[andy_ppp]

If it wasn't significant in terms of Apple's profits why would they not just charge 15%...

[michaelt]

Depends on what type of subscription business it is. I've heard meal kit companies like Hello Fresh lose 90% of their customers in less than 12 months, as the generous new customer discount vouchers tail off.

(Not that meal kit companies would be paying Apple 30%)

[dcow]

Meal kit companies don’t pay the 30% because the payment is for a service that is delivered outside the app. Uber doesn't pay it either. It’s a stupid loophole apple built in that all but proves the 30% cut is ridiculous and would never work in the real world.

[jzl]

Exactly. The whole argument about security and people needing a central payment system for things to be safe user friendly is patently ridiculous given that said approach is working just fine for all the “physical items” apps.

[riversflow]

Curious what B2C business sectors take less than a 30% cut?

[pentae]

Average subscription length for most apps varies but the average is 3 months. Most people cancel within the first month no matter what the product is