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by simonh
1751 days ago
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>30% was highway robbery from the start. That was not at all obvious to anyone in 2008. It's a pretty typical margin from the console industry, which was the main point of reference at the time. Apple spent several billion building the App Store infrastructure, the SDK and setting up the review and payments system and it took years for App Store revenue to catch up with the sunk investment and expenses. Also practically everyone in the industry at the time was saying Microsoft and Google would imminently wipe Apple out of the mobile market. This is a tough one, I think 30% made perfect sense in 2008 but does seem steep now. Apple makes huge profits on the App Store, but it mostly seems to have happened by accident, their original strategy seems to have genuinely been to just break even and maybe make a modest margin, with the store mainly just being a competitive advantage. The huge success and profits have been a windfall. However that all happened and we are where we are. I don't object to Apple's app store margins or IAP charges, it's their product, their rules. I do think banning developers from informing users of how to get subscriptions and such outside the store is foolish. That's clear overreach. I see why they do it, otherwise subscription services can cut Apple out and free-ride, but they probably just have to take the hit. |
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You are right. It's a question of incentives. The Apple/Google duopoly is incentivized towards control because it allows for abusive profit extraction. They have less incentive to open their platforms and both continue to invest heavily to avoid doing so, because their product, their rules is extremely profitable.
>I do think banning developers from informing users of how to get subscriptions and such outside the store is foolish.
From the Apple/Google perspective, it is foolish in only one respect: it so outrageous that it invites legislative and regulatory response.