Match Group Steps up Criticism of Apple Policies
Contributed by: kellyseal on Friday, October 02 2020 @ 09:17 am
Last modified on Friday, October 02 2020 @ 09:23 am
Match Group CEO Shar Dubey recently voiced criticism of tech giant Apple’s policies in regard to their app store.
In an interview with Axios[*1] , she claimed that the way the store operates is “inconsistent and unfair” in terms of the percentage of revenue Apple takes from every app store purchase (30%). While this is definitely a disadvantage for Match Group’s revenue stream, Dubey pointed out that consumers lose, too because they don’t have as much choice as they otherwise would have.
When Match Group customers have issues with subscriptions or billing, they have not been able to help them directly either, and instead have to refer them to Apple for any refunds or payment issues. In other words, it creates a big headache for customers who would rather just deal with one company in one interaction, rather than going back and forth.
Dubey compared this process with Uber, where customers can download the app and still deal directly with Uber for any billing issues without having to go through Apple. She said that Apple has not been forthcoming as to why Uber can avoid this cumbersome and costly process whereas Match Group, despite its millions of users across its suite of apps, must still defer customer billing issues to Apple. In addition, Match Group has to pay the 30% fee that the company thinks would be unnecessary were they allowed to handle their own customers.
She also pointed out that this process means there is little transparency on how Apple services Match Group’s customers, putting both consumers and Match Group at a disadvantage from communicating effectively with one another and having a more seamless sign-up process. Match Group owns a suite of popular dating apps including Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid among others.
"All we are able to do is send them to Apple and we have no transparency on how they service or, you know, treat these issues with our customers,” Dubey said. “And so that is our contention that there should be a choice. There should be a consumer choice."
Match Group is not the only company to take issue with the way Apple operates the App Store. The European Union recently launched an antitrust investigation, and Apple is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite. Even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has weighed in and said that Apple “deserves scrutiny” for their App Store policies and pricing.
Dubey said that they are currently talking with Apple about their concerns but have not ruled out legal action.