William Gallagher
Twitter is reportedly planning to charge $7 per month for its Twitter Blue subscription, but the company wants to offset fees and will charge users more per month through the App Store.
The on again, off again Twitter Blue subscription, with its controversial verification system, is expected to return from Friday.
According to The Information, some Twitter employees have been told the subscription service will be relaunched with new pricing. Rather than the previous flat-rate $8, it will have two price points.
Users buying the subscription via their iPhone and an in-app purchase on the App Store, it instead will be $11. The difference is likely to be to cover Apple's first-year 30% commission on in-app purchases.
Apple charges 15% fees on a subscription if it is maintained over a full year. There is no word if it will reduce the per-month charge on the iPhone to $9 per month after the first year.
Elon Musk previously railed against the App Store commission as part of what appeared to be a complaint about Apple cutting advertising on Twitter.
It was not clear whether Apple actually paused its Twitter ad spend. However, there has been speculation whether Apple and Google may remove Twitter from their app stores over its announced lack of moderation.
The European Union has warned Elon Musk that it will ban or fine Twitter unless content moderation complies with its forthcoming laws. Tim Cook, however, has said that he is counting on Twitter to keep its word about moderation.
Shortly after also criticising Apple's stance on free speech, Musk was given a tour of Apple Park by Tim Cook.
Musk subsequently claimed that "Tim was clear that Apple never considered" removing Twitter.
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31 Comments
Musk offered advertisers a bribe with the ridiculous ad buy incentives and they took it. It's kind of pathetic but that's the business world.
Wouldn't the Twitter Blue subscription be considered a real world good or service and thus not required, or allowed, to use Apple's in-app purchase system nor subject to App Store fees?
That’s not a great way to treat your best customer. Twitter makes 89% of their revenue from advertising, and in the first quarter of this year, Apple was their biggest advertiser. It would take a whole lot of blue check marks to equal the amount that Apple gives Twitter for advertising. Apple should just cut their Twitter ad budget by 30%.
Why would anyone pay to tweet. it is just stupid