Even The Little Guys Can Win with Compromise

by Charles Pobee-Mensah, Director of Digital Marketing

Recently a tech business named Basecamp released their new email app called Hey. People could sign up at hey.com, do a two-week free trial, and pay $99/year to continue. Once you signed up, iPhone and Android apps were ready and waiting for you to use. There was only one problem. Apple stopped letting Basecamp update their app.

Apple wanted Basecamp to provide a way for users to pay for Hey on the app store. This, of course, gives Apple up to 30% of its $99/year subscription fee. That’s a big chunk of their business.

Hey, of course, isn’t the only app that Apple has done this to in recent years. There are lots and lots of developers who are in the exact same position and just decide to give up. But Basecamp stuck to their guns. After all, they used the exact same process for their other app (also named Basecamp) but never had a problem. Likely because it’s been there since before Apple decided to enforce this rule.

Recently, Basecamp found a way to compromise with Apple. The noise that the little guys made was enough to get the tech behemoth to focus on other changes to the Hey app instead of forcing them to give Apple such a large chunk of their revenue.

Basecamp is only small in comparison to Apple. Compared to most small businesses, they have a big reputation and strong revenue. However, this is a great story to keep in mind when times are tough for business. Compromise can go a long way even when you’re outmatched.