Apple Will Soon Remove iOS and Mac Apps From Affiliate Program

Stephen Hackett on Apple’s decision to remove apps from their affiliate program:

Another angle here to consider is money. Payments made to people linking to apps with affiliate links comes out of Apple’s share of revenue generated by app sales and in-app purchases. How much money it costs them is unknown, but the idea that the reasons behind this move could be financial in nature feels pretty gross. Apple is a for-profit company, and it may have a real bottom-line reason to close this program, but sometimes doing the right thing comes with a cost.

I don’t know what the explanation is, but sites like TouchArcade that are currently dependent on App Store affiliate program revenue are now in a tough place. I’d love to know why Apple made this decision. I don’t get the argument that it’s about Apple pinching pennies and not wanting to pay the affiliate fees. The whole point of affiliate programs is that they drive enough additional sales to increase revenue. That’s why Amazon has an affiliate program and heavily promotes it.

★ Thursday, 2 August 2018