Apple may still be miles away from making its entrance into the market of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. That may eventually happen through the company’s AR / VR headset which has been postponed multiple times. However, the company is still keeping an eye on the segment, especially in the growing “Metaverse”. Today, the company decided to point out Meta’s hypocrisy. The former Faceboon Inc. company has been planning to charge developers up to 47.5% for virtual goods sold through the Meta Quest Store.
Back on Monday, Meta announced it may take an additional 17.5 percent cut from goods sold in “Horizon Worlds”. This comes in addition to the 30 percent the platform charges for being apps on the Meta Quest Store. Apple didn’t digest this with a smile on its face. In an email sent to MarketWatch, Apple Senior Director of Corporate Communications Fred Sainz called the move hypocritical. However, what Apple is so angry with Meta’s hypocrisy? The fact is that Meta has previously criticized Apple for its 30 percent take. To those unaware, “Horizon Worlds” is Meta’s take on the Metaverse. It’s a VR platform where people can meet up, chat, buy goods, and have custom avatars.
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“Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store — and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn,” Sainz said in the email. “Now — Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform. [Meta’s] announcement lays bare Meta’s hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own.”
It’s a surprising twist. After all, Facebook Inc, and then Meta, have been in strong opposition to Apple’s 30 percent platform fees. The company has even called Apple’s 30 percent cut a major barrier when it comes to giving opportunity and freedom to creates and small businesses. A 30 percent fee is certainly high for a starting business, but what to tell about Meta’s planned ~48 percent fee? We can easily see why Apple is so mad about this. Honestly, this all seems like Meta’s shooting at its own feet. The company has been criticizing Apple and pushing developers against the company’s fees. Now, it has been doing worse.
The company, however, does not see anything wrong with its fees. Meta states that its 47.5% rate is “competitive”. Moreover, the company believes that other platforms will be able to have their share soon. However, the rate is much higher than Apple’s 30 percent take and the 2 percent take from certain NFT markets.
Faceboon Inc.’s rebrand to Meta clearly revealed the company’s biggest focus on Metaverse. In fact, since then, we saw everything involving the metaverse gaining special attention. The company keeps building its metaverse and is even creating a parallel currency for the virtual world.
In related news, both Apple and Meta have been targets of hackers, showing a fragile aspect of the metaverse.
