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App store fees -- Store wars
應用商店抽成——商店大戰
Laws and litigation threaten a big source of Apple's and Google's profits
法規和訴訟威脅著蘋果和谷歌的一大利潤來源
What does it take to rein in two of the biggest companies on the planet?
如何才能約束世界上最大的兩家公司？
A coalition of Swedish music-streamers, South Korean politicians and Dutch dating apps, apparently.
一個由瑞典音樂流媒體、韓國政客和荷蘭約會應用軟件組成的聯盟，表面上來看是這樣的。
They seem to be succeeding where America's federal government has failed: to force changes to the way Apple and Google run their app stores.
他們似乎在美國聯邦政府失敗的地方取得了成功：迫使蘋果和谷歌改變其應用商店的運營方式。
The app stores are big businesses, with combined sales last year of $133bn, three times the total five years earlier.
應用商店是樁大生意，去年的銷售額總計達到1330億美元，是過去5年銷售額之和的3倍。
Apple and Google take a cut of up to 30%, which is thought to contribute a fifth of the operating profits at Apple and Alphabet, Google's parent company.
蘋果和谷歌從中抽取高達30%的分成，這被認為貢獻了蘋果和谷歌母公司Alphabet五分之一的營業利潤。
The 30% levy began in Apple's iTunes music store and was copied to its iPhone app store, launched in 2008.
30%的抽成始于蘋果的iTunes音樂商店，后被同樣應用到2008年推出的iPhone應用商店中。
As people came to use their phones for gaming, streaming and much else, it evolved into a tax on digital activity.
隨著人們開始用手機玩游戲、看視頻，以及做其它很多事情，它演變成了一種數碼活動稅。
Sign up to a service like Disney+ on your phone and Apple or Google get a cut of your subscription for ever.
當你在手機上簽約訂閱像Disney+這樣的服務時，蘋果或谷歌將持續從你的訂閱中獲得一部分分成。
Apps have had to use the tech duo's payment systems, and could not tell users about other ways to sign up.
應用軟件不得不使用這兩家科技公司的支付系統，并且無法告知用戶使用其他方式訂閱。
Gripes from app developers have forced only minor concessions: last year Apple said it would let them link to external payment pages and Google reduced its fees for subscriptions.
應用程序開發者的抱怨僅迫使他們做出了很小的讓步：去年，蘋果表示將允許他們鏈接外部支付頁面，谷歌減少了它從訂閱中抽取的費用。
Now, though, the dam is bursting.
不過現在，大壩正在決堤。
Last summer South Korea banned app stores from forcing developers to use a particular payment system.
去年夏天，韓國禁止應用商店強迫開發者使用特定的支付系統。
In December Dutch regulators made a similar ruling against Apple, after a complaint by developers of dating apps.
去年12月，在約會應用軟件開發者提出投訴后，荷蘭監管機構做出了類似的不利于蘋果的裁決。
On March 23rd the trend went global.
3月23日，這一趨勢在全球范圍內蔓延。
Google announced a deal with Spotify, a vocal critic of app-store fees, to let the music-streamer handle its own billing.
谷歌宣布與聲討應用商店抽成的Spotify達成協議，允許這家音樂流媒體公司自己處理賬單。
Google will lower its commission rate, probably in line with the four-percentage-point cut agreed in South Korea.
谷歌將下調傭金費率，可能與韓國達成的4個百分點的下調幅度一致。
It says more deals are on the way.
該公司表示，之后還會有更多優惠條款。
Google's magnanimity anticipates laws that may require bigger concessions.
谷歌的高姿態預示著法律可能要求作出更大的讓步。
A bill before America's Congress would force app stores to allow payment alternatives and let apps advertise other ways to sign up.
提交給美國國會的一項法案將強制要求應用商店允許使用其它支付方式，并允許應用程序公布其他訂閱渠道。
A bigger threat comes from the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), approved in draft form on March 24th.
更大的威脅來自歐盟的數字市場法案，該法案于3月24日以草案的形式獲得通過。
The colossal bill covers various aspects of digital markets, including app stores.
這一龐大的法案涵蓋了數字市場的各個方面，包括應用商店。
The DMA, which is on track to come into force next year, would force mobile platforms to allow third-party app stores and "sideloading" of apps directly from the web -- something Google permits but Apple does not.
將于明年生效的DMA將迫使移動平臺允許第三方應用商店和直接通過網絡“側載”應用——谷歌允許這一操作，但蘋果不允許。
Offenders face fines of up to 20% of worldwide revenue and bans on acquisitions.
違規者將面臨高達其全球收入20%的罰款，并被禁止參與收購。
Apple's boss, Tim Cook, has warned that sideloading would "destroy the security of the iPhone".
蘋果公司的老板蒂姆·庫克警告稱，側載會“損害iPhone的安全性”。
That is a bit much: Apple allows sideloading on its desktop computers without calamity.
這有點過頭了：蘋果允許在其臺式電腦上進行側載，沒有造成什么災難。
But Apple's much bigger share of the mobile market could make the iPhone a juicier target for malware.
但蘋果在移動市場上的份額更大，這可能會使iPhone更成為惡意軟件更青睞的攻擊目標。
And the company trades heavily on privacy and security.
該公司在隱私和安全方面下了很大功夫。
Despite what the authors of the DMA seem to believe, writes Benedict Evans, a tech analyst, you cannot "pass laws against trade-offs".
科技分析師本尼迪克特·埃文斯寫道，不管DMA的發起者是怎么認為的，你都不能“通過不平衡的法規”。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
