[CoffeeDregs]

  * there's decent and non-evil reasons

Funny, I just e-mailed some friends about how Apple was starting to get a bit of the stink of Evil about them.

As I read your comment, I was struck by how Apple does everything in a very one-size-fits-all fashion (Mac -> no window menu; iPhone -> home screen is a list of apps; subscriptions -> one revenue model). There's a rich set of monetization schemes out there and Apple might offer a range of monetization models. Apple could use an affiliate fee style model where App maker pays Apple $X for each subscription+. Then Apple could just use the eCPM or expected revenue to rank search results (App gets a lot of subscribers and pays a healthy CPA, they get ranked higher). App makers would then need to figure out how much $$$ to pay Apple for an install. This could also apply to free apps [...but we've seen the harm that causes elsewhere].

Then Apple could add simple hosting/management fees for hosting an app's content.

+ I've been fairly heavily involved in the affiliate/CPA space, so know the kind of unpleasantness the model can bring, but am fairly confident that Apple could work around it.

[ed: formatting]