If P&G would hire a lobbyist to force Walmart (or Costco, Kroger, etc.) to allow P&G to receive payment for their shampoo directly from consumers, would that be fair?
P&G: "Yeah, we'll continue to use your store, our shampoos will stay on your shelves so shoppers can see them every time they visit your store but when a shopper wants to buy a shampoo they will go to the P&G Web site to pay. You only need to provide us the shelf space and need to make sure that you keep our shampoos in stock. Also, you need to ensure your store is easily accessible, is clean and convenient, is safe and you need to keep the lights on and make sure vast amounts of shoppers enter your store every single day. You can continue to do all that, just don't expect to be paid for it. Because that wouldn't be fair to us."
The App Store provides app developers with a fantastic platform enabling them to offer their apps to the hundreds of millions of iOS users throughout the world. A developer who's creating an app in his bedroom can reach the entire world all for free! Only when someone purchases his app he shares some of the revenue with Apple. The billions of dollars a year spent on hardware, software, storage and people required to keep the App Store up and running are paid by Apple.
Another example:
If a painter strikes a deal with a single art gallery to display his paintings on consignment, he will for sure have to share more than just 30% of sales with the gallery owner. And then his paintings hang in a single gallery to which people need to make an effort to travel to in order to see his paintings.
Life is a two-way street, folks.
You can't just take take take. It's give and take... share and care. Let's not be greedy. That doesn't make the world a better place.
