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You're misunderstanding what the phrase "rent seeking" means. It doesn't have to do with how essential a product or service is. The point of a rent, in econom
by aetherson 8y ago
You're misunderstanding what the phrase "rent seeking" means. It doesn't have to do with how essential a product or service is.
The point of a rent, in economic terms, is that the person who is selling it does not add substantial value to the product or service. They just leech value.
The analogy is to someone who holds ancestral lands and rents them out unimproved. They get some chunk of the economic value that the land produces, without ever having put their own labor or their own capital into the transaction.
The argument is that the 30% fee that Apple charges on the app store is a rent in the software produced by other parties, with Apple adding little to the transaction.
- tptacek 8y agoBesides the app store itself, and the process by which Apple grooms apps for suitability for that store, and the payment processing system that enables people to buy apps without busting out a credit card?
- aetherson 8y agoYes, I agree that the argument is not watertight. The counterargument is, "Okay, so let there be multiple app stores on iOS, that compete with each other, and let the market price that package of services." But regardless, let's not talk about whether Apple is providing luxuries or necessities -- that's not what rents are about.
- eridius 8y agoAnd besides all of the work Apple does to develop and maintain the APIs and frameworks that apps use?
- solarkraft 8y agoWhat if I don't want these "services"?
- tptacek 8y agoWhether you want them or not has little to do with the question of whether the App Store is rent-seeking, which is the question I was addressing. Rent-seeking isn't another term for "I don't like it".