Apple removes ‘2,500 won’ option from in-app payment … Should I buy expensive KakaoTalk emoticons?

As Apple announced that it would raise the price of in-app purchases in Korea and other countries from the beginning of next month, the content industry was in trouble. This is because, according to Apple’s policy, the seller does not set the price directly, but has to choose from choice, but the price burden is placed on consumers regardless of their intentions.

According to the industry on the 22nd, Apple recently announced through its official developer page that it will raise the price of in-app purchases in Korea, Japan, Chile, Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, Vietnam, and countries that using the euro from October 5th. , post price list by ‘Tier’.

In-app purchasing refers to using the payment system of a market operator (in this case, Apple) when purchasing content from an app. Apple requires content sellers to ‘choose’ rather than ‘set’ a price. Tiers are a type of price option, and content cannot be priced except for a total of 88 tiers from 0 to 87.

The current prices for each tier in Korea were 0 for tier 0, 1200 for tier 1, 2,500 for tier 2, 3900 for tier 3, 4900 for tier 4, and 5900 for tier 5 won . That’s why you can’t find content that costs 1,500 won or 2,000 won in the App Store.

According to the new price list released by Apple this time, the prices have gone up all at once, except for Tier 0, to 1,500 won for Tier 1, 3,000 won for Tier 2, 4,400 won for Tier 3, it earned 6,000 for Tier 4, and it earned 7,500 for Tier 5. However, subscription-based content does not follow the new price tag and may maintain the current price.

Apple pointed to Vietnam and said it reflected changes in tax regulations, such as value added tax and corporate income tax, but did not explain why the price was raised in other countries. The industry believes this reflects the increase in the exchange rate due to global inflation.

As a result, the seller of the content inadvertently raised the price. If the seller does not adjust the price in the future, ‘cookies’, Naver Webtoon’s payment currency, are sold at 1200 won, which is the first tier price for 10 pieces, but will rise to 1,500 was won. KakaoTalk emoticons, which used to be tier 2 prices, will be raised by 500 won from 2,500 won to 3,000 won.

However, this policy is only applied within the app, and the price increase does not apply when purchasing content through other channels. For example, after purchasing KakaoTalk emoticons on the web, you can use them on your PC or mobile phone. Even if the price of the tier increases, the selling price of the web does not change.

Currently, the price of KakaoTalk emoticons on the web is 2,500 won, the same as the price in the app. If you apply the discount event that always takes place on the web, you can buy it cheaper than in the app.

A content industry official said, “The tier price increase is just Apple’s policy, and needs to be distinguished from the vendor’s policy.” “He said.

On the other hand, if the number of non-app purchases increases, Apple, which has to pay commissions, may create sanctions. In the case of Android, Kakao previously installed an ‘outlink’ that incentivizes web payments against Google’s in-app payment policy, but withdrew after being forced to stop updating.

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