Elon Musk's hidden ace: iPhone users will pay more for Twitter Blue
Twitter Blue is about to become around 30% less expensive for iOS users that subscribe for the premium verified service straight from the app.
With the change in effect, you will have to pay $11 a month to subscribe to Twitter Blue and score the blue check mark from your iPhone. On the upside, the price of Twitter Blue when paid through the website will be $7 per, a dollar less than the $8 a month that Twitter Blue initially cost. Twitter users that subscribe from within the iOS app will bear the brunt of the price hike.
The change comes as a result of Elon Musk's desire to circumvent the App Store's 30% tax cut from any purchases and subscription. Initially, Elon Musk was quite vocal about his disagreement about this surprising to him policy (which has been in effect for more than a decade). App Store head Phill Schiller even quit Twitter. Major concerns about content moderation and reinstation of multiple controversial figures back on the social media led to many raising vocal criticism about the future of the website, and an overall uncertainty if Twitter will remain up on Apple's App Store.
All of this changed after Musk took a tour of the Apple HQ and had a tete-a-tete with Apple CEO Tim Cook himself. This served as a major de-escalation of the tension between Apple and Twitter; Apple fully resumed advertising on Twitter and assured Musk that the app wouldn't be removed from the App Store.
The 30% App Store tax cut isn't universal to all developers: those amassing less than $1 million annually are only required to chime in 15% of the subscription price back to Apple.
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