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Some of you Spotify fans might have come across the $12.99 upgrade option for Premium on the iOS app and then later seen the same option on Spotify’s website for $9.99. You would have felt elated, and rightly so, upon discovering this loophole.

This price discrepancy stems from Apple’s 30% commission on In-App Purchases (IAP). Apple charges developers this fee on all purchases made within the app for services or products delivered through the app (thus not affecting apps like Uber and Airbnb which deliver services outside the app). In order to pay this fee, Spotify briefly increased its prices for iOS app users, but this option has since been discontinued. Developers are also not allowed to use any explicit methods (emails, website links) to redirect customers to an external website to make these purchases.

Apple is not alone in charging this commission, Google charges the same for apps in the Android Play Store. The fee goes towards paying employees to scrutinise and approve apps, processing customer payments in different currencies and transferring the money to the developer, and distributing the apps through content-delivery networks to customers…