As an app developer, I'm shocked that people just don't get it.
The 30% cut of in-app purchase that Apple/Google collected is NOT a payment processing fee and has largely nothing to do with payment services. It is primarily a way to ensure the app developers pay a fair amount of "use tax" on using and benefiting from the entire ecosystem, including but not limited to reaching billions of users, covering the cost of developing and maintaining the ecosystem, tools and cloud services, etc.
It is really no different from paying income taxes to the IRS for being a US resident and enjoying all the benefits of living in the US. Whether it is fair to collect 30% tax is debatable, but the idea is the same, collect a simple tax since it is extremely hard to quantify all the obvious and non-obvious benefits that are provided by the ecosystem.
Since Apple/Google is not the IRS, they can't audit all your app's income sources. If your app gives users a way to pay via 3rd party payment services, you can effectively evade that tax. And that is already happening with some apps TODAY, some of which actually very big (e.g. some Chinese broadcasting apps). Do you think this is fair to Apple/Google?
So the issue here is not just about choices. If the government allows 3rd-party payment services to be used by the apps, they should at the same time provide a feasible solution to audit the app income and negotiate a fair amount of use tax to pay the ecosystem.
That is not what the 30% is at all. Apple charges its tax as the $99/year fee everyone is required to pay to enter the App Store. If $99 is not enough, Apple is free to increase it as long as alternative app stores are available on iOS to keep costs competitive for developers.
The 30% cut of in-app purchase that Apple/Google collected is NOT a payment processing fee and has largely nothing to do with payment services. It is primarily a way to ensure the app developers pay a fair amount of "use tax" on using and benefiting from the entire ecosystem, including but not limited to reaching billions of users, covering the cost of developing and maintaining the ecosystem, tools and cloud services, etc.
It is really no different from paying income taxes to the IRS for being a US resident and enjoying all the benefits of living in the US. Whether it is fair to collect 30% tax is debatable, but the idea is the same, collect a simple tax since it is extremely hard to quantify all the obvious and non-obvious benefits that are provided by the ecosystem.
Since Apple/Google is not the IRS, they can't audit all your app's income sources. If your app gives users a way to pay via 3rd party payment services, you can effectively evade that tax. And that is already happening with some apps TODAY, some of which actually very big (e.g. some Chinese broadcasting apps). Do you think this is fair to Apple/Google?
So the issue here is not just about choices. If the government allows 3rd-party payment services to be used by the apps, they should at the same time provide a feasible solution to audit the app income and negotiate a fair amount of use tax to pay the ecosystem.