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Platformer reports that Twitter’s redesigned Blue membership may not be offered as an in-app purchase on iOS when it eventually relaunches in order to avoid Apple’s 30 percent cut on App Store purchases. Only the Twitter iOS app was the place to buy the new Blue when it was temporarily offered earlier this month. However, Elon Musk appears to want to avoid having to pay Apple’s fees even while he is openly tweeting his discontent with the company.
The New Blue, which enables users to buy a blue verification check mark, was scheduled to relaunch on Tuesday, according to Musk, after signups were suspended due to a rash of impersonators. However, Platformer claims that launch has been postponed. According to Platformer, Twitter employees have been informed of more modifications to Blue, including a one-cent pricing hike from $7.99 to $8 and the need for phone number verification.
Musk has up his attacks on Apple in his tweets throughout the course of this month. He slammed the App Store cut on November 18th, referring to it as a “hidden 30% tax on the Internet.” Additionally, he asserted on Monday that Apple, one of Twitter’s reputedly major sponsors, had “largely” ceased running ads on the social media site and has “threatened to ban Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”
Apple hasn’t publicly responded to Musk’s tweets, but observers have hypothesised that moves like his mass firings of content moderation staff or his decision to reinstate suspended accounts for Donald Trump could put Twitter at odds with App Store guidelines.