In an interview with CNBC, Snap CEO Evan Speigel, founder of Snapchat, has said that they are happy with paying 30% commission fee to Apple. Unlike some other developers like Epic Games, Evan Speigel believes that Snapchat would not have existed without the software and hardware advancements that Apple has offered over the year, which is why they feel happy to pay the commission fee in exchange for the technology.
Unlike Epic Games, Snapchat is happy to pay 30% fees to Apple
Speaking to CNBC, Evan Speigel said that Apple has been a great partner to Snapchat over the years, and
“We really feel like Snapchat wouldn’t exist without the iPhone and without the amazing platform that Apple has created. In that sense, I’m not sure we have a choice about paying the 30% fee, and of course, we’re happy to do it in exchange for all of the amazing technology that they provide to us in terms of the software but also in terms of their hardware advancements.”
Spiegel gave an example of LiDAR technology on recent iPhones which allows Snapchat to create immersive augmented reality experiences. This has in turn allowed Snapchat to grow its business over time.
In terms of Apple’s recent privacy changes and its implications on Snapchat’s ability to target users with ads, Evan Spiegel said that Snapchat is aligned with Apple to help protect user privacy. He said that Snapchat’s investments from over 10 years ago to protect user privacy have really paid off. The company has been helping its advertising partners to migrate to Apple’s SKAdNetwork which helps advertisers measure ad efficacy, and the transition has gone smoothly for them.
Unlike other social networks, Snapchat’s business model has not been around harvesting user data without their consent. This has helped the company easily navigate around the recent App Tracking Transparency changes that shipped with iOS 14.5. As per the App Privacy nutrition labels, the data types that Snapchat collects is much more limited compared to the likes of Facebook and Instagram.
Snapchat had just recently announced that it has hit 500 million active monthly users, which shows that the company is doing really well despite its main stories feature being ripped off by Facebook.
Check out the interview video below:
Read more:
- Snapchat announces new Story Studio app on iOS with vertical recording, AR lenses, editing tools and more
- Snapchat has finally released Dark Mode on iOS
- For the first time, Snapchat had more daily active users on Android than iOS in Q1 2021
- Snapchat is reportedly looking into ways to bypass Apple’s new privacy rules
