[timewizard]

> A company sets prices based on what will make it the most money.

No company does this. Prices are set based upon demand. This does provide opportunities to make more money during some periods than others. If you have a monopoly then you can ignore this and just pick what makes you the most.

> Apple seems to think charging $99 a year for developers will help its long term bottom line the most.

It's absolutely a bespoke filter to prevent spam and automated misbehavior. Admittedly there does seem to be a resulting overall quality difference between iOS apps and other platforms.

> Prices aren't justified or not, you choose to pay them or not.

Business models are legal or not. You choose to play by the rules or you don't play.

[ndr42]

>> A company sets prices based on what will make it the most money.

> No company does this. Prices are set based upon demand.

I read an interview a long long time ago (with Jobs, Schiller or Cook - I don't remember) where they were saying explicitly that Apple charge the amount that get them the most money not marketshare. I remember the times when analysts where obsessed with market share and that apple had to lose because they were to expensive. I don't hear that opinion that often today.

[II2II]

At the time, eroding marketshare was a legitimate concern. It takes money to develop products, and without continuous development they would not remain competitive. Whether they liked it or not, marketshare is a factor in making the most money since you need to spread out the cost of development. Many companies were failing at the time, including those who made high end workstations because of that. Many years ago, I read an article about how the development of Alpha processors could not keep up simply because Intel could invest far more into R&D.

[timewizard]

That's what they say. Anyways it would be a clever way of rephrasing "many of our products have very low demand and high lock in."

[cortesoft]

Demand is a factor in determining what price will generate them the most money in the long term, but it is not the only factor. Competition is another factor, like you mentioned.

They want to prevent spam and automated misbehavior because that will maximize their long term profit.

Business models can be illegal, but not your pricing.

[realusername]

> No company does this. Prices are set based upon demand.

In a market without competition (such as the mobile duopoly), that's how it works. The customer has no choice anyways so no price comparison can happen.