[gyardley]

It's funny how Apple charges 30% for in-app purchases, and that instantly becomes 'industry standard' in the minds of lazy TechCrunch writers. The cut taken by most virtual currency providers on Facebook is about a third of that.

The 30% figure can only stand up in an environment without competition. Luckily for Facebook (and Apple), they can create an environment without competition by fiat.

[quanticle]

And its that 30% figure which is going to prevent Facebook credits from becoming a wide-spread e-currency. There are many payment systems out there (Paypal, Google Checkout, etc.) that have lower fees and looser terms of service than Facebook. Its one thing for Facebook to mandate this for their own network. It'll be quite another for Facebook to push this service out onto the Internet as a whole.