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It's like if an university released an app for it's student body, they were forced to allow anybody to sign up to the university with Apple pay. And give Apple 30% of the tuition.


Except Apple specifically exempts real world services, because they agree. That'd be insane.


How is email not a real world service. What even is a non-real world service?


Digital goods are not real world services. Labor, food, physical products, etc. are considered "real world services" according to Apple's language.


College is "digital goods" these days.


I’ll buy that (ironically) when they make iCloud free.


… that does not follow. Apple's definitions aren't based on whether a good is free. It's based on whether the service is delivered without real-world interaction by the user.

Tuition at a brick-and-mortar college? No cut.

On-demand video service with tutorials? They get a cut.


I’m zeroing in on the “real” here. Email is an indispensable service, just like paying tuition. The idea that “it’s on the internet so it doesn’t count” is... farcical coming from the biggest tech company (or one of the largest browser vendors, whichever seems more relevant) ever.




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