Paddle, the international revenue platform for software firms, has unveiled the first alternative In-App Purchasing (IAP) system for iOS developers.
As mentioned in a release, the system is designed to bring innovation, competition and choice “to iOS in-app payments for the first time.”
Paddle’s new product offering is “a direct response to the recent ruling in the Apple vs Epic lawsuit.” Developers are able to register their interest in Paddle In-App Purchase from today, “with the new service going live on 7th December 2021, in line with the terms of the court ruling.”
Established in 2012, Paddle’s goal is to assist developers and software sellers with expanding their businesses as fast and effectively as possible. Over 2,000 software sellers reportedly depend on Paddle’s platform to sell into 200+ markets internationally.
But until now, Apple‘s strict policies have “prevented any innovation or competition within a huge part of the software market: the App Store,” the announcement noted.
It also mentioned that as soon as the Apple vs Epic ruling was announced, Paddle “began work building a better, cheaper alternative for iOS developers; one that would give them greater control over how they sell their products, while freeing them from the high commission fees – the so-called ‘Apple Tax’ levied on all App Store transactions.”
Paddle In-App Purchase is “a true like-for-like, drop-in replacement for Apple’s IAP, allowing developers to maintain a seamless user experience, without having to pay Apple 30% of every sale.” The update also noted that Paddle has “a highly competitive fee structure, charging just 10% for transactions under $10, and just 5% on transactions over $10. This means that developers earn more from every purchase.”
Other key benefits of using Paddle In-App Purchase are as follows:
- Greater control over customer relationships: By removing Apple as the middleman. Paddle can give sellers far greater access to data on each customer throughout their lifecycle, allowing developers to better understand and optimize the user experience at every stage.
- Flexible subscription options and retention tools: Direct subscription management and the ability to pause subscriptions, gives the developer more power to support their users directly, more choice of billing models and the option to offer additional payment methods such as PayPal (alongside Apple Pay)
- Direct customer service: by putting the developer in control, Paddle IAP gives sellers the ability to to deliver high-quality customer service without having to go through Apple every time. Until now, developers have had to rely on Apple to pay refunds or collect payments on their behalf. This is not only inefficient, it means the developer has no control over a key aspect of the customer experience.
- Apple’s business model + greater freedom: Like Apple, Paddle also takes responsibility for the time consuming purchase admin, from global sales taxes to customer support. While other payment companies shift these responsibilities on to the seller to handler, with Paddle there’s nothing new for developers to worry about.
Christian Owens, Founder and CEO of Paddle, stated:
“An estimated $30bn is spent on non-gaming apps on iOS per year[1]. This is a huge part of the software market that, until now, has been closed off from competition and innovation. When we saw that the Apple vs Epic ruling might change that, we knew we had to get involved. Our mission has always been to help software makers and sellers achieve their growth potential but up until now, we’ve never been able to help customers do this within the App Store itself.”
Christian added:
“Our alternative In-App Purchase offering gives developers the chance to retain all the things they like about the App Store, while also giving them greater control and lower costs. We’re incredibly excited to be rolling this out and look forward to helping customers get set up and ready for the switchover in December.”