For those defending Apple, so you willingly paid premiums for a phone just so that Apple could extract more money by controlling what apps you get to install?
The fact is simple: developers would charge less if not for Apple's tax. If you want to send your money to Apple for nothing, buy their pricey HomePods and Watches.
That's a straw man argument. I willingly paid a premium for an iPhone...one of which is the single point of contact for my credit card details across apps, music, video, cloud as well as for family sharing and parental controls. The fact that it's better built, gives a more seamless experience, lasts longer AND gives better resale value is just icing on the cake.
Apple would never have been able to fund the transition to their custom silicon for iPhone, iPad and now Mac without the cash that their business plan brings in, amongst a myriad of other things. As a developer, I am happy to pay that 30% because it is a pretty good deal and saves me a lot of headaches down the line.
People mistakenly think that the "developer fee" pays for all the costs of the App Store. This is incorrect. The developer fee provides access to Xcode and all the other development tools, instructional videos, support forums, beta software, certificates, ID's and profiles, technical support and the tools to distribute to the App Store.
App Store costs such as hosting (including electricity), global CDN, payment processing, fraud prevention, handling of refunds/ chargebacks and fraud, product discovery, reviews and ranking, different pricing for different markets as well as rate exchange, privacy tools, business analytics, security & quality review etc are all handled by the 30/15% model when a developer charges for the app.
To make it a little easier on smaller developers, a tiered model where those that make the most, pay the most would be the only thing that I may consider. That means Epic would still end up paying the 30%.
What gives people the right to impose the idea that because a company is making a profit, that they should give away goods and services? The
consumer sets the price that they are willing to pay. If a consumer isn't willing to pay for an Apple product, they will purchase another device (and many do). If they aren't willing to pay for an App, they won't pay.
Apple's customers continually show that they are willing to purchase Apple products, at a premium and the App Store is by far the most successful (ranked by actual paying customers). Apple consistently gets the highest user satisfaction rankings worldwide. Given the fact that Apple has NO majority in any market it does business, charges MORE for it's products and services and there are CHEAPER options elsewhere, I can't possibly see how Apple is misusing it's position in the market. Users CHOOSE to buy into the Apple Ecosystem due to the ADDED Value over the competition.
Getting ahead due to offering a better product/ service isn't classified as a monopoly. That's the very definition of competition.
