The Arizona House of Representatives today passed HB2005, a state bill that would provide developers with an alternative to Google and Apple's in-app purchase options by allowing developers to use their own payment solutions within apps.
Last week, the Arizona House Committee advanced the bill, and now it has also been approved by the House of Representatives. It will next be heard by the Arizona Senate.
JUST IN: The Arizona House of Representatives has passed a bill requiring app stores to allow third-party payments. The bill now moves to state's Senate. pic.twitter.com/KUhjP7DgLK — CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 3, 2021
Apple and Google have been lobbying aggressively against the bill for weeks now because it would let developers use third-party payment options to avoid the 15 to 30 percent cut that Apple takes from app purchases an in-app payments.
In a hearing last week, Apple chief compliance officer Kyle Andeer called HB2005 a "government mandate that Apple give away the App Store."
"This would allow billion-dollar developers to take all of the app store's value for free, even if they're selling digital goods, even if they're making millions or billions of dollars doing it. The bill is a government mandate that Apple give away the app store."
Apple last month successfully fought back against a similar bill in North Dakota, which would have paved the way for third-party app store options.
Like the North Dakota bill, the Arizona bill was backed by the Coalition for App Fairness, a group that includes companies like Epic Games, Spotify, Basecamp, and Tile, all of whom have had significant issues with Apple's App Store rules. There's a similar bill in Minnesota that Apple is also battling against.
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Top Rated Comments
I like how game consoles are excluded for no apparent reason.
WAY more important things to be working on and dealing with in this state and they are worried about this crap.
They don’t provide “nothing” for 15-30%. They provide payment processing, app review, certification, distribution (globally), tax payments (globally), tax documentation (globally), customer service support, advertising, API development, API services support...
The payment processing alone costs 25% in some countries in Asia and Latin America.
30% is a steal for what they get in return.