Well that was quick. The Wall Street Journal broke news just an hour ago that the Fed’s team of antitrust ninjas are stroking their beards over Apple’s new App Store subscription plan. The new rules laid out by Apple prohibit developers to offer different subscription terms for their services outside the App Store, stating that the prices offered in the App Store must be the same or cheaper than those offered outside of it. For example, if you have a magazine app, say Kittens Weekly, and want to offer potential customers a discounted subscription price for purchasing the subscription on the Kittens Weekly website directly, Apple won’t allow that. You can offer it at an equal or more expensive price on the Kittens Weekly website, but it cannot be cheaper than what you offer it for on the App Store. Apple will also be taking a 30% cut on all subscriptions as well for being such an accommodating broker. Antitrust regulators are in the preliminary stages of this and are pondering whether or not the new subscription rules stifle competition. An official investigation won’t occur unless the Department of Justice feels that Apple’s new subscription rules truly put a damper on good old free market capitalism.
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