Used to be the platform was the product, and the developers applications were the lock-in / incentive to keep buying new versions of the platform. Microsoft and Apple never made a % off what you sold at Egghead or Best Buy or CDW.
With Apple giving away iPhones, I guess they really need that 30% forever revenue on every app you buy. Which lets be clear, while its less money the developer is getting out of the sale price, is 30% coming out of your pocket.
Wait, ....no, Apple has industry leading profit margins on iPhone..... they don't need that 30% at all to subsidize the iPhone business. Face it, Apple is greedy, and want as much of the pie as they can have without crossing any line that gets them in legal trouble.
Its such a scam to say Apple deserves 30% of digital subscription revenues. If you go to any brick and mortar store and you buy a game off the shelf, or any other software package.... that store makes nothing on your recurring subscriptions. And that makes sense, they aren't facilitating any part of it. Same thing if you took a magazine off the shelf, filled out the subscription card and started getting magazines. The store had nothing to do with that sale, it didn't deserve or take any of it.
Apple too, isn't facilitating anything of importance. They aren't designing the content, they aren't hosting it, they aren't distributing it, they aren't advertising the DLC/streaming content. The only reason Apple in a lot of these cases is handling the subscription is because for most things they pretty much force you to use them. On the open market, Stripe and other payment processors with recurring billing charge around 3%, not 30. Google does it too you say, ok. Your friend shot someone in the face, does that mean its right?
At least Playstation and Xbox market places are based on subsidized hardware... let me know when Apple decides to subsidize theirs, I'll upgrade more often.