[sneak]

Since when did we as an industry start championing rentseeking that adds no value?

Yes, the App Store is valuable. No, generic payment processing rails aren’t. Even the 1-3% charged by CC companies is bullshit. Apple, of course, charges 10x this.

The only reason they get away with it is because they have leveraged cryptography to stifle competition. If other app stores were possible on iOS, Facebook and Epic and Netflix would collaborate to create one in a heartbeat and billions of people would stop having to pay higher prices to inflate Apple’s stock value.

[kj99]

A dishonest comment since we know the app store fee is not just for payment processing.

[sneak]

The $99/year paid by every developer is more than sufficient to cover the expenses involved in distributing their apps.

[kj99]

A statement that is obviously absurd at its face for anyone who thinks for even a minute about what is involved.

[turquoisevar]

Please.

The $99/year wouldn’t even cover the cost of App Review reviewing my builds in any given month, even at minimum wage.

Not to mention the frameworks I use on a daily basis to create my apps.

[smoldesu]

Then why is $99/year perfectly acceptable on Mac which has more frameworks, lower hardware revenue and less payment processing restrictions?

[turquoisevar]

Not sure what you’re getting at here?

[smoldesu]

Apple charges the same developer fee to both iOS and Mac developers. Mac developers are free to distribute apps how they please, and use whatever payment APIs fit their use case. iOS developers cannot distribute apps freely, and must surrender 15-30% of their software revenue to cover something.

So, what is that something? What is Apple charging for on iOS that isn't necessary on Mac?

Presumably, nothing. iOS is a less-complex operating system with fewer features and capabilities than MacOS. It has less legacy frameworks and compatibility modes to support, lower threat surface and less software competition.

Again, why can the $99/year fee cover frameworks on Mac but not on iOS? Your original claim seems to be based on pure assumption and not evidence that proves iOS is more costly to maintain.

[brcmthrowaway]

1-3% of payments does not run an app store for a billion users.

[heavyset_go]

Apple's profit margin on the App Store was about 80% in 2019[1].

Looks like 3% to 6% fees would absolutely run an app store.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-01/apple-s-a...