I'm a product manager who works for a small internet company that is developing an iPhone application for a social network. We monetize by offering limited and premium memberships to users (premium members get additional features not available to limited members). For billing on the web, we use a 3rd-party payment gateway that is nearing retirement, and will be replaced by an in-house solution.
The business wants a global launch for our iPhone app using iTunes + in-app purchasing as a payment gateway. The problem with going global using this payment method is that for our web service membership level, available features, and subscription costs are defined by country. For example, in the US premium/limited memberships are available at 5 pricing tiers; in France premium/limited memberships are available at 5 different pricing tiers from the US; and in Chile the service is available for free and all features are available to users.
Is it possible then to have the server-side, based on the user's country of registration, control the level of access, features, and payment options for users on the iPhone? I'd also note that since iTunes Connect does not allow variable pricing by currency and country, each "region" would need 5 in app purchase options.
I argued for a US-only launch for iPhone using iTunes in app purchase until an in-house payment gateway is available. But you know...
"Is it possible then to have the server-side, based on the user's country of registration, control the level of access, features, and payment options for users on the iPhone?"
Yes, assuming you can get a reliably country of registration.
Once the server/application has the data, it can do pretty much whatever it wants with it, no? If the purchase happens in-app, then it is under your control. Only show/accept the payment options you want. If the features are only exposed from within/by the app, then it is under your control. Only show/allow the features you want. Well, if the above assumption holds anyway.
Of course, such conditionals do make the entire package more complex.
Related
The iOS App Store offers schools 50% discounts on bulk purchases which is great. Is there a way to determine, at the app's runtime, if the app was installed via an educational purchase?
At runtime? No. There is no way to get any information about the purchase of your app.
In sales reports, thats another question.
I would assume attempting to modify functionality of the app based on educational purchase is against apple's rules. Your contract states:
In addition, you may, at your election via iTunes Connect, instruct Apple to market the Licensed Applications at a discount of 50% of Your established price tier for authorized institutional customers.
Which sounds to me like you can optionally agree to ship the same app but at a reduced price.
I have a question about payments through an app. Are there any type of payments you can do without apple applying their 30% cut?
from my understanding, apple's stand is if your application generates any new revenue, that apple is entitled to 30% of the revenue since they are providing the service and hardware that gets you that new revenue.
we are a subscription based service (we sign customers up outside of the app either though our website or in person). we use the app to access our data in a mobile form.
we recently began offering a new service where we need to charge them per usage (its outside of the subscription fee). this is a service for existing customers and the app has not attracted a new revenue source. all services available in the app are available through our website or in person.
we sell a service and access to our database, no physical goods. the new service will be available through the application, but not used in the application.
we would process the payment on our own servers (do not use services like paypal). they can always make a payment through our website or in person. we would either store their credit card information on our servers or prompt them to enter it.
it is a matter of convenience for our customers to do a payment through the app.
will apple insist on taking their cut do you believe?
EDIT:
how do credit card companies handle payments in their apps? are they paying apple 30% per payment you make to your card? or are they an exception to the rules? does apple believe that allowing big credit card companies to accept payments w/out taking a cut help apple in the long run as an attraction?
If users pay to unlock digital content within your app then you must use In-App purchases, for which Apple will take their 30% cut.
If however the unlocked services are for 'real world' goods or they are not accessible within the app then you must use another payment method with no cut taken.
Overview of In-App Purchase
Ask yourself if you need to include the payment side of things in the app. While Apple has gotten a bad rap for taking a cut from services, a lot of that depends on what type of service you are offering. Netflix isn't giving up 30%. The big reason for this is they don't allow you to collect payments through the app. If you venture down the road of trying to skirt around Apple's in-app payment, you are likely to get burned. There are ways around it for sure, but eventually they can catch on and require you to implement IAP for signups.
There is nothing wrong with requiring users to handle the business end of things on your website. This will avoid any ruffled feathers with Apple.
I think you should use the same mechanism what Groupon is using. They collect the information from Mobile app and feed the data to there payment server and they are good to go i think.
I would like to distribute an application where only registered and paying customers of our company can have access to. The app would be distributed in the app store for free and users would have to log in with the registered details to use the application.
The problem is that the app will have certain amount of functionality based on what the registered customers have paid us. For example customer A paid us $500 for the registration and hence he will have the full functionality of this application. On the other hand customer B paid us $250 and this customer will only have half of the functionality of this application.
Is my company allowed to do this?
You cannot do this sort of thing in the App Store, if that's what you're asking?
You might be able to do something similar via the iOS Developer Enterprise Program instead: http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/enterprise/
You will need to be carefull about Apple's rules for app content. I am far from an expert so I am only suggesting you look into the possibility that Apple will view this as an end around their In App Purchase.
From what we have learned in our research is Apple doesn't allow the sale of app content or features that are not sold through Apple's approved purchase systems. A magazine app that sells a subscription qualifies as selling content. An app that provides additional functionality based on a monetary transaction also falls into this situation. You can sell a widget (food order, event ticket or clothing) without running afoul of this.
If you go down this path, you should not make mention of the payment difference affecting the features in the app. Apple will want a login that gives them full access to the app features. You may want to consider publishing two apps. One fr the different kind of customer.
Perhaps someone else can shed more light on this issue.
I'd like to sell products through my application (insurance policies) and I don't want to use the in-app purchase mechanism as it would mean sharing 30% of the product price. Instead I would like to provide the user with a page to enter his/her credit card details and perform the credit clearing through my own self-developed secured services.
My question: is selling products which are not content or features, using my own purchasing system, prohibited by Apple or appstore policy?
Obviously, I am not a lawyer, but I think you’ll be OK. Here’s my interpretation of the three relevant rules from the developer guidelines (emphasis mine):
11.1 Apps that unlock or enable additional features or functionality with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected.
11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an app will be rejected.
11.3 Apps using IAP to purchase physical goods or goods and services used outside of the application will be rejected.
The first rule prohibits you from unlocking anything inside of your app with something other than the App Store. This would prevent you from, say, making a game that downloads new levels from your server based on your membership to a website.
The second rule prohibits you from, say, making a game and enabling PayPal in it to unlock more levels. Apple wants you to use in-app purchase for that.
The third rule—and this is where it gets interesting—prohibits you from using in-app purchase in an application to buy “physical goods” or “goods and services used outside of the application.” Nowhere does it say, however, that you can’t use other purchasing systems.
With that third rule, I think what Apple is saying is this: anything that runs on the iPhone must be purchased through the App Store, and everything purchased in the App Store must run on iOS. For something like insurance, which isn’t new functionality in the app, I think you’ll be OK. This is absolutely worth an e-mail to Apple’s technical support staff, but if you look at Amazon’s app, you can purchase physical goods using Amazon’s checkout system.
Quoting from Apple's Guidelines - 11.3 Apps using IAP to purchase physical goods or goods and services used outside of the application will be rejected.
So, you should be fine. This is validated by apps that are already in the Apple app store, such as Groupon, Fandango, Chegg and others that charge users credit cards for physical goods or goods consumed outside of the app without passing the transaction through Apple.
It would be great feedback for everyone to hear whether you had any difficulties with Apple when publishing your app or not.
11.10
Insurance applications must be free, in legal-compliance in the regions distributed, and cannot use IAP
https://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guidelines.html
Also read: http://www.quora.com/How-do-eBay-and-Groupon-get-around-Apples-in-app-purchase-system-despite-being-native-apps
In general you can sell physical products via an app. You cannot however use the InAppPurchase mechanism for this, but are required to use your own payment mechanism.
Ruling on this seems somewhat unclear from the guidelines. Would be interestig to hear whether your app got accepted.
We just recently submitted an app that featured in-app purchase of non-digital goods and everything went through without issue. Take a look at the following to get more insight:
Does Apple test purchase of physical goods during their app approval process?
We have developed an application that allows a user to download audio content. The use of application itself is free, but we charge for the content. In our current business model, we accept payments using premium-rated SMS (which increases the in-app user's balance), however, Apple rejects the app since they do not allow this model for their applications.
Is there any other way (except In App Purchase API) we can accept the payments with?
Apple will only accept in-app purchases for this type of business model. Even then, you still have to submit each and every "in-app update" for approval at least a week prior.
Like Liam said, they want their piece of the pie too and they also don't want people slipping something past them (for instance, highly offensive content, pornography, etc.)
Per Apple:
You can create In App Purchases on both Free and Paid applications. Every product you want to offer in your store must first be registered with the App Store through iTunes Connect. When you register a product, you provide a name, description, and pricing for your product, as well as other metadata used by the App Store and your application.
There's no other way with this type of business model. More info here around page 116
Another option would be offering the same service via an ordinary website and then offer the app to allow users accessing their existing accounts. Take dropbox as an example - they offer paid memberships which you purchase on their website. The dropbox app itself is free but lets you access your dropbox account, for which you paid elsewhere.
In your case maybe you could offer "credits" for purchase (payable by premium-rated SMS) on your services website which the user could then spend by accessing his account from within the app.
This is less "direct" (requires the user to visit your website to pay for the content he will download later) and I wouldn't even bet on apple's approval (if the website appears to be merely a place for buying credits without further functionality, they'll propably reject the app too for circumventing in-app purchase), but then again, there are (propably) no alternatives. However, I'd talk with apple about this option before implementing it, to avoid wasting time and money. After all, in-app purchase is the way apple wants people to go if they want to spontaneously purchase content using only their device, so they'll defend it.
The easiest was to look at this is to work out why they refused the application, which is because it is not in their interest. You are selling a product to their customer and they are not getting any commission. In order for them to accept the app I would imagine that you will need to provide an in app purchase mechanism, but you could do this in addition to the Premium SMS as long as the app doesn't send the message