Apple’s App Store marketplace now allows apps to sell NFTs. Developers of existing apps can sell NFTs within apps, and new apps can include NFTs. The smartphone giant is Putting NFT purchases in the same category as regular in-app purchases and is pushing for mainstream adoption.
The catch is that the smartphone company will charge a 30% hefty fee for all NFT transactions made through the apps, a fee similar to that of Google Play, Android’s app store, whereas, A typical NFT marketplace, such as OpenSea and Magic Eden, charges only 2-5 percent of the transaction.
Apple is now under fire for its “grotesquely overpriced” commission. Startups and trading NFT firms say they avert the App Store because Apple’s rules and 30% commission make it untenable for them.
Magic Eden, an NFT startup, has decided to withdraw its services from the App Store, despite Apple’s offer to reduce its commission to 15% for companies with less than $1 million in annual revenue.
“Now Apple is killing all NFT app businesses it can’t tax, crushing another nascent technology that could rival its grotesquely overpriced in-app payment service. Apple must be stopped,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney stated on Twitter.
Alexei Falin, CEO of NFT startup marketplace Rarible, said, “It feels like the position is that Apple doesn’t really want (App Store) users to be able to purchase or sell NFTs,”
However, Gabriel Leydon, a web3-based CEO, sees the bright side of the situation:
Everyone is focusing on apple wanting its 30% cut of each transaction without realizing this could put an ETH wallet in every single mobile game onboarding 1B+ players!” He added, “I will HAPPILY give Apple a 30% cut of a free NFT.
Along with the high commission, there is also the additional complication of having to conduct transactions in US dollars instead of cryptocurrency, which could be risky given the volatility of cryptocurrency markets.
