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“No Apple tax means we will lower prices” - Proton announces lower prices for users by up to 30% after US ruling against Apple fees

⁨1142⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨dwazou@lemm.ee⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/no-apple-tax-means-we-will-lower-prices-proton-promises-price-drop-after-us-ruling-against-apple

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Comments

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  • nous@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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.

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    • athairmor@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah, even of the companies don’t pocket the difference, he’s an idiot to suggest that this will cut inflation.

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      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I think he’s a salesperson trying to sell the idea that getting rid of the apple tax is good for consumers.

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      • glimse@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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

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      • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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.

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      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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!

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    • plz1@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah, Proton is bucking the obvious trend, with this one. Most companies will totally take the profits rather than lowering prices.

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    • Zak@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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.

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    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      could help cut inflation in the US

      I highly doubt Apple App Store revenues are a significant portion of the CPI.

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      • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I mean, let’s not kid ourselves that it has no effect, but it’s not even in the basket

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    • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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.

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      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        In a sufficiently competitive market, the maximum is related to costs.

        Proton is trying to get cheap marketing.

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    • cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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.

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      • Saleh@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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.

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  • philycheeze@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Do he still think fascism is good for small businesses though?

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    • radon12445@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If only he ever said that you weren’t making up bullshit by misrepresenting his statement.

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      • Lemjukes@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Are you kidding? Hating on Andy Yen for saying dumb shit he didn’t actually literally say is basically a Lemmy staple meme by now.

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      • renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        x.com/andyyen/status/1864436449942110660

        Seems pretty clear to me.

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    • sunglocto@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Please just shut the fuck up

      I beg you

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      • gimmemahlulz@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Please go fuck yourself, I beg you.

        Not opposing fascisim is openly supporting it. I’m tired of trying to convince brain dead idiots that’s the case, so if you can’t see it: go fuck yourself.

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    • doodledup@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Why is it bad though? This business is in no form related to politics. It wouldn’t change fundamentally even if Hitler ran it.

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      • philycheeze@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I’m not going to willingly put my money towards someone who supports that kind of thing. The first response to my comment was a very level headed response and provided evidence that he does not directly support the administration.

        Still doesn’t provide me a lot of consumer confidence though.

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      • clot27@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        You are not cooking blud

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  • commander@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Damn. People here sure love purity testing. The guy could pay for their cancer treatment and still slap him every chance because they got it wrong publicly in the past but once you get it wrong publicly once, you’re out of the club. Go be a conservative we don’t want you. When someone at Tuta has a bad year and ends up in the wrong publicly, find another email service to try and convince people to go too. Probably worse in functionality than Tuta as you go down to smaller and worse funded efforts in this niche field of Internet activism

    But people here do it here too to Mozilla because they don’t like their social outreach programs and their attempts to get advertising revenue so screw Mozilla too. So because nothing but perfection is acceptable, push away people that may be adjacent/left leaning right and switch to less developed products. Switch from Firefox and attack Mozilla who do the bulk of Firefox development and use Waterfox who do a custom deployment/build. Pure display of perfection being the enemy of good here.

    You want people to embrace privacy but keep whiplashing people around when the org/anyone in leadership says something wrong. Screw Signal, they’re not perfect. Screw Matrix/Element, some developer said something one day so it’s all bad. I’m surprised anyone here uses any privacy software or a major open source software like Linux or Krita or Blender at the risk that someone in the background may be wrong in someway which I am 100% certain they exist in important positions. Same with Lemmy

    Go back to the 60s and you all would be shitting on Fred Hampton for accepting the impure and the color coalition for everyone that had ever said something wrong. Al Franken definitely would not make it with y’all. Y’all can’t build up leftist communities because y’all are bitter assholes that can’t move on and spend so much time purity testing. Y’all are probably mediocre too so can’t make a difference in privacy and data ownership activism anyways so should be lining up to support not just Tuta, someone hasn’t screwed up publicly yet, and Proton

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    • anachrohack@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s not a purity test so much as a fear that publicly signaling loyalty to trump devalued their trustworthiness as private and secure. If their CEO legitimately believes that Republicans are better on tech policy than democrats because conservatives want to weaponize the federal government to control speech online, then I don’t really trust him not to cooperate with federal authorities when they want to access someone’s emails or vpn traffic. Conservatives are simply not trustworthy to me

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      • StonerCowboy@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Louder for the idiots who can’t seem to listen. Preach!

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      • crypt0cler1c@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        This is literally just insane rambling. You need serious media literacy.

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      • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        They legally can’t though that’s the thing people are missing

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  • compostgoblin@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Cool! Still not gonna put all my eggs in the fascist-sympathetic basket

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  • suicidaleggroll@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    If they can charge 30% without Apple’s fees, then why are their prices the same whether you buy on their iOS app or direct on their website? Why have they been overcharging users who don’t buy through the iOS app by 30% all this time?

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    • Scipitie@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Old knowledge disclaimer, but if they didn’t change it then:

      Because Apple literally tells people that they’re not allowed to charge less somewhere else - at least that was the case several years ago…

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      • patrick@lemmy.bestiver.se ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Some things do charge different amounts though. YouTube Premium for example is more expensive if you subscribe in iOS but maybe that’s just because it’s Google.

        They also could have just not let anyone subscribe through the iOS app. Lots of things do that.

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      • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        This is the same on most platforms. You’ll rarely find a product for different prices in different places because if they’re listed on Amazon, Steam, Apple, Google, etc. they’re not allowed to.

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    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Because Apple prohibited that.

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    • MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Likely they were not allowed to by the terms they agreed to with apple.

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      • Cort@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Most favored nation clause. Apple gets the lowest price that you offer. I’d you offer any discounts elsewhere, that have to be the same on the app store

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  • throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So, Mr. Yen, are you still sympathetic to the republicans, who have a disdain for the same courts that gave you a win?

    Or is your head burried so deep in your particle accelerator you don’t even have any clue about politics?

    Dude thinks he knows everything because he has a PhD in Physics, literally out of touch with the politics that anyone doing 5 minutes of web searching can understand.

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    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Dude thinks he knows everything because he has a PhD in Physics, literally out of touch with the politics that anyone doing 5 minutes of web searching can understand.

      This is such a common thing. STEM education needs to be more well rounded.

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      • Saleh@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Why? Idiots thinking they know more than they do won’t be stopped by this. Also if we wanted to round humanities and liberal arts by making it mandatory to pass analysis, linear algebra, organic chemistry and classical physics would just lead to much more people not graduating anything.

        School is for a general education. Academia is for specialization.

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    • chamgireum@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      no no, you see Trump is totally anti-big tech. once he bleeds them dry from all the bribes they’ll be gone! /s

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    • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      What does politics even have to do with a ruling like this? Isn’t the law separated from the government in the US? Or is the US just a corrupt country that allow people to influence the judges ruling to impact the lawsuit in a certain outcome … O wait …

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  • ABetterTomorrow@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “Up to”…… here’s 5% off

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    • Empricorn@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Very true. I’m giving you up to* 1000 upvotes.

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  • jsomae@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I am sad because of all the people in this thread who think the CEO is “fascist-sympathetic” because he said Trump did something better than the Democrats one time.

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    • skisnow@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah, having only just switched from GMail to Proton last week my heart sank when I saw “Proton are MAGA”.

      Then I spent three minutes reading up on it and it’s like, the CEO said one thing about policy on regulation of big tech that was critical of the Democrats for not doing enough, and the internet has decided that means he’s MAGA.

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      • anachrohack@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        He said Republicans are better on tech policy than democrats. Republicans tech policy is motivated entirely by the fact that their racist and conspiratorial views were getting them banned on social media sites.

        Conservatives have absolutely zero principles. If they say they want to break up big tech, it’s because they want to control it in some way. They want the platforms to promote speech that’s beneficial to them.

        If you believe that Republicans truly are better for tech policy than democrats, then you either whole-heartedly agree that a group of criminals and wannabe dictators should be able to destroy any business that publishes speech against them, or you are extremely gullible. Either way, why would I want to give you my business?

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    • Nobilmantis@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Absolutely agreed. I think when you have such role in a company you should avoid making political statements at all, because no matter what you say you will end up upsetting some people. In this case, “try-hard” democrats.

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      • jsomae@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Well, it’s worth leveraging your status to communicate to the politicians things they’ve done well (i.e. this tweet). In this case, it cost him more than I think he was expecting.

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    • Evotech@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Not Even trump, just «the republicans»

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      • dancingdots@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        It was definitely Trump.

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  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No doubt Proton’s CEO will use this to justify his “Trump is better for regulating big tech” claim, while ignoring the fact that the judge in this case is an Obama appointee.

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  • Scrollone@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Proton = Trump support

    So no for me.

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    • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Proton itself never directly commited on anything from Trump in a positive way.

      Their current CEO Andy Yen posted this Tweet. Yes he is an idiot and even doubled down on it with the Proton account Now I am not from a country with a 2 party system, but last time I checked agreeing with one statement from somebody doesn’t mean you support them. Heck finding common ground is often a way to find compromises.

      Do what you want and don’t support them if you don’t want them, but don’t act like the company Proton is a Trump supporter. Heck there are a lot of articles on the Proton site which are pro privacy and pro consumer.

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      • booly@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Andy Yen went out of his way to criticize Democrats on antitrust, which is how you can tell it’s actually a pro-Trump position unsupported by the actual facts.

        I like Gail Slater. She’s possibly the best choice among people who Trump likes, to head DOJ’s Antitrust Division. She has bipartisan bona fides.

        But to say that Democrats, after 4 years of Lina Khan leading the FTC, and a bunch of the reforms that the Biden FTC and DOJ made to merger standards and their willingness to sue/seek big penalties for antitrust violations, aren’t more serious than Republicans about reining in big tech consolidation and about stronger enforcement of antitrust principles, completely flips around the history and is a bad faith argument.

        Andy Yen could’ve praised Gail Slater, and that would be that. Instead, he took a post by Trump that didn’t even mention Democrats, and made it about how the Democrats are bad on taking on big tech. That’s the problem everyone had with it.

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    • jsomae@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      He approved of an appointment Trump made, and criticized Dem on the issue – doesn’t make him a Trump supporter. If we can’t tell the Dems off when we think the GOP does better, how can we proceed?

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      • anachrohack@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        People aren’t criticizing him because ehe criticized the democrats. They’re criticizing him because the things he said are actually fucking braindead retarded

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    • doodledup@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’d use their VPN even if Hitler made it. It’s private, secure and their stand to their values with respect to that. Why would I care about political views? Politics don’t change the service on a technical level.

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      • elrecoal19_1@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
        [deleted]
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    • suite403@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Fuuuuck.

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      • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        This article goes into it some more, please pick your own opinion: medium.com/…/does-proton-really-support-trump-a-d…

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    • medgremlin@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah, my 2 year plan is up in June. I haven’t decided what I’m switching to. I’ve heard good things about Mullvad’s privacy policies and politics, but I’ve also seen reviews that a bunch of sites and services have them blocked.

      I’m open to suggestions at this point.

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      • uawarebrah@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Mullvad is the gold standard

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  • homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This the trump-licker? Yeah, bye Proton.

    Buh bye now

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    • toastmeister@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Thundermail is coming soon. By Mozilla.

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      • Empricorn@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        That’s the best name by far! Well, I guess second, compared to Thunderbird.

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  • Wispy2891@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Inb4 Trump invents tariffs on foreign coded software

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    • ugjka@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You mean tariffs on services and the EU been floating the idea of putting tariff on US big tech in response

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  • HawlSera@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It’s time to end monopolies

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  • fubarx@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It’s not exactly 30%. For sales below $1M, it’s 15%: developer.apple.com/…/small-business-program/

    In Europe, where this was established last year, they started charging a Core Technology Fee to cover the cost of hosting and data transfer: developer.apple.com/support/core-technology-fee/

    And if you switch payment providers, you have to pay at least 2.5% plus transaction and any intermediary fees.

    It’s nice that Proton is offering a discount, but for everyone else there may be additional ongoing costs.

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    • brbposting@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      15% if you know about it, if you apply, if you get accepted

      Image

      Good watch on this stuff, the recent court decision overall

      Image

      Dude’s so vindicated. Apple lover who HATES their treatment of developers cases like this.

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  • StonerCowboy@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They just lowering the prices cause of his backlash for supporting Trump.

    Fuck Proton. Snitching ass bitches.

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    • Swarfega@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Online drama which it seems you’ve been drawn into believing

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      • StonerCowboy@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

        That’s you and all the trumpets.

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    • Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Who told you Proton supports Trump??? Your flimsy grasp on reality makes you easy to control

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      • StonerCowboy@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Another Russian bot dont you have Twitter to go spew your dumb shit? Fk off.

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  • dutchkimble@lemy.lol ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    But I already use proton and purchased outside the Apple Store (on the proton website) and use it on my iPhone? What changed?

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    • LodeMike@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Nothing

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  • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Should have done a valve and allowed selling anywhere but require price parity. Now from their greed there will be financial incentive for people to use another platform.

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  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I got a Proton two-year subscription that averages out to two dollars and change per month.

    I already feel like I got an incredible deal.

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  • CaptainBasculin@lemmy.bascul.in ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    based move

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  • lookupgeorgism@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Just use KSuite instead

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  • Rin@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Companies lowering prices is unheard of

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