Apple’s At It Again, This Time With WordPress
Apple blocked updates to the WordPress blogging app until it added in-app payments for plan upgrades so that Apple can receive a 30 percent cut.
“Heads up on why WordPress for iOS updates have been absent,” WordPress’s Matt Mullenweg tweeted. “We were locked by [the Apple] App Store. To be able to ship updates and bug fixes again we had to commit to support[ing] in-app purchases for .com plans.”
Yes, it’s gotten this silly: In the past, Apple simply allowed services with free and paid options to not advertise the paid options inside their apps. But now Apple is going after services that do have paid options and it is requiring them to offer those options with in-app payments (IAPs) so that Apple can collect a 30 percent fee each time.
Apple fans will at least appreciate Mullenweg’s attitude: He says that he is “big believer in the sanctity of licenses” and that WordPress “agreed to this license when we signed up for (and stayed in) the App Store,” so he going to “follow and abide by the rules” and do “what they [Apple] asked us to.”
However, he also says that there are many apps in the iOS App Store not advertising their paid options or offering a pay to pay for them inside the app. And he assumes that Apple will go after them soon as well. “My guess is they will get similar feedback soon so I’d encourage them to start making IAP plans,” he writes.
The dictator appreciates your support, Matt. Good boy.