Hello, I need to be sure we are doing correct.
Can we clarify we can present list of available subscriptions and current subscription to the user in the iOS app where we don't use any payments inside.
We have payments only on the web page.
Basically our subscriptions allow users to extent hardware devices our consumers buy at us.
It's clear for us that we are not able to call for actions for payments and we are not able to user other payment methods in the app.
But it's not clear for me if we are allowed to show subscriptions without any action for payments.
Here is Description of Business Model In one of the first submissions of our app to the app store about 5 years ago we clarified our business model in detail during the review and it was confirmed that it is fine for this model to collect a fee outside of the app. The main reason was that the value creation happens fully outside of the app. The model did not change since. We are happy to describe here our business model in more detail. The Solar Manager System comprises a hardware https://www.solarmanager.ch/produkt/gateways/,, a backend, a web application and an app (the one under review). The hardware gateway is optimizing the own consumption of solar systems in residential homes. This hardware gateway is locally installed in the home of the user and communicating to many home appliances (battery, PV inverter, car charger, …). The main value creation to the end user is that his home appliances are controlled such to optimize for highest solar consumption and in some cases dynamic electricity tariffs. This means our hardware is starting / stopping / controlling theses devices locally directly via different interfaces. Different algorithms are running directly on the hardware to perform such optimizations. Our backend and web front-end are used to configure the devices and prioritize devices according to the user need. For the first year in 2018 our system was running without any app. It was only hardware, backend and front-end. Also we have a support team answering questions and phone calls from users that have a problem with the system. For this system we have a one time fee to buy the hardware device that is then installed locally in the home of the user. Additional we have a yearly fee to cover cost for data storage, development costs of backend and front-end, and to cover our support. This fee is collected through a payment system in our backend. It can be accessed from the front-end. Depending on the amount of data stored, number of external devices connected to our hardware and the amount of support given to the user there are different levels for the fee. The fee is directly related to the data storage cost, the backend needs, and the support effort. The fee is not collected for digital content consumed through the app.
Thanks.
