Schiller said that Apple hoped, in 2008, that the App Store would make money. However in a Wall Street Journal interview at the time Steve Jobs said different.
www.wsj.com
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It seems clear that in the beginning the 30% was to cover the cost of starting up the App Store and process credit card transactions. Jobs wasn’t pitching it as something Apple deserved because Apple was supplying developers customers. Jobs felt apps would make the hardware more compelling and thus drive more hardware sales. Once hardware growth started to slow Cook & Co. decided to pivot towards “services” revenue (the bulk of which comes from the App Store tax/commission) to make up for declining hardware revenue. It’s pretty clear now Apple doesn’t need 30% to run the App Store. It‘s no longer about the cost of running the App Store it’s about ensuring the App Store is very profitable.
So, Apple hardware sells slowed and service revenue grew. That statement alone indicates that Apple as a whole, needs the App Store to do well. I'm not sure what is wrong with that, businesses adapt all the time. It would be nice if Apple offered indie developers and small businesses a discount, but at the same time, I don't see that through other platforms. Often other platforms have such an initial high cost of entry that small developers don't have a chance, even if they only take a 30% cut.
Just looking for a little more information. It appears that Epic charges 5% commission/royalties for using their game engine after developers make their first $1 million. Epic also has an App Store. I can see why they'd want to put their own App Store on Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo hardware, but they've chosen to go for iPhone first (their existing user base is much larger on the former, but the latter has the most growth potential). Does anyone know how much it cost small developers to have Epic distribute their games on the Epic stores?
One final thought. I'm an old school gamer, though I don't suppose I can call myself that anymore since I don't really have time for it. I still remember the days before app stores and launchers, and miss when you'd just buy a game from the developers. Now you need a high powered PC just to run the launchers, err store apps, and it's all about tracking users, monitoring in realtime. I'd love to be able to install any app on my phone straight from the developers, but at the same time I wouldn't do it, I know that introduces all sort of security risks, which I've never experienced on my iPhone and don't have time to handle. I let Apple handle it. Given what we've all seen happen to PCs over the years, I'm sure no one wants that mess on their phones, neither the invasive App Store/launchers nor the wide-open nature of PCs. Maybe Apple could offer both? A blank empty hardware iPhone to cater to gamers, call it the Epic iPhone, and a secure normal iPhone for the rest of us. Epic would then be free to slap whatever OS and App Store of their own on it. Win win.