could help cut inflation in the US
I highly doubt Apple App Store revenues are a significant portion of the CPI.
nous@programming.dev 11 months ago
Yen also pointed out how such a court decision could help cut inflation in the US, too, “by dropping the price of a significant chunk of digital purchases by 30% overnight”.
I bet most companies will just take that extra 30% as profit rather than giving it back to their users like proton has.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I mean, let’s not kid ourselves that it has no effect, but it’s not even in the basket
plz1@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah, Proton is bucking the obvious trend, with this one. Most companies will totally take the profits rather than lowering prices.
Zak@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Companies that were app-first like mobile games probably won’t cut prices much if any. Companies that were web-first like Proton and Patreon probably will.
Ulrich@feddit.org 11 months ago
Yep, product prices are not based on costs but rather just the absolute maximum of what consumers are willing to pay.
Proton just seems to be an exception.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
In a sufficiently competitive market, the maximum is related to costs.
Proton is trying to get cheap marketing.
Ulrich@feddit.org 11 months ago
It’s not. It’s just related to the competition AKA what people are willing to pay.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
With enough competition, someone is going to compete on price to attract customers. They obviously can’t sell for less than their costs (again, sufficiently competitive so you don’t get monopolies starving their competition), so that’s the floor for what they can sustainably charge. It doesn’t matter what the service is, if there are enough viable alternatives, at least one of them will go for the value play.
athairmor@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah, even of the companies don’t pocket the difference, he’s an idiot to suggest that this will cut inflation.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
So, I initially wanted to just kneejerk respond yes, it is absurd to suggest this ruling against Apple… would have any kind of generally noticable effect on inflation.
But I wanted to check the actual numbers.
Ok, so, total US consumer spending in 2024 is about $64 Trillion.
… The Apple App Store generated $105 Billion in revenue in 2024.
Ok, napkin math: 30% off of lets just say literally all App Store payments… , ok, we’ve cut costs by about $32 Billion… shave that off the $64 Trillion…
And voila!
A rough general price reduction of… 0.05%
Call a median US yearly income $60K, and they’ve saved $30 bucks. Maybe the cost either one or two DoorDash meals, depending on where you live.
We’re saved from inflation rofl!
Ulrich@feddit.org 11 months ago
Interesting that Andy Yen does not have a Wiki page. But Proton says “Previously, Andy was a research scientist at CERN and has a PhD in particle physics from Harvard University.” so, I think he’s very smart, he’s just outside of his lane here.
glimse@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Or he’s just shitting on other companies who he knows are too greedy to do the same. Proton is getting positive press for this and he’s leaning into it with a bit of hyperbole
Not saying he’s a genius or anything, he’s just a spokesperson doing spokesperson things
paraphrand@lemmy.world 11 months ago
How many years until prices go up? I bet they marked down 1-2 years where they realize they can’t up the prices. But after, it will creep up.
Serinus@lemmy.world 11 months ago
In a decade it’ll probably be the same price it was last year.
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I think he’s a salesperson trying to sell the idea that getting rid of the apple tax is good for consumers.
lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
getting rid of the apple tax is good for consumers.
I mean that’s not wrong. I had no idea Apple was double-dipping like this. I wonder if Google is doing the same thing…
lepinkainen@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Every store does this. Even Holy Valve
Ulrich@feddit.org 11 months ago
What do you mean “double dipping”? I don’t own any Apple products. I purchased through Proton’s website.
cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
i’m scared how many ceos don’t understand that rapid fall of inflation or zero inflation is bad because it means your economy is stagnant.
Saleh@feddit.org 11 months ago
That is a very broad generalization. First of all inflation is not just some co-product of economic activity. It has specific reasons. An economy is not stagnant because the oil price sinks after geopolitical tensions ease. An economy is not stagnant because businesses are kept from price gouging in cartels or monopoly situations.
Also “stagnant” is not inherently bad. The reason why we need economic growth is because the super rich are siphoning off more and more wealth, so economic growth is the only thing keeping poor people from revolting. A zero growth or even degrowth economy could serve the people very well, if wealth wouldn’t be hoarded away by select few.