One aspect that bugs me about the situation that I've not seen mentioned is this disingenuous language Apple employs repeatedly in justifying its right to a per

One aspect that bugs me about the situation that I've not seen mentioned is this disingenuous language Apple employs repeatedly in justifying its right to a percentage take on the basis of the services it's providing in distribution etc. Eg they even describe how Basecamp's been providing apps for free for years on their platform in the email to DHH, with overtones of Basecamp being freeloaders, and they've only been getting by by Apple's forebearance. Yet that argument completely underplays that it's a two-way street - Apple gets enormous value from the aggregate weight of the collective of developers who make native apps for iOS, adding collective value to iOS products. But you never see Apple concede this. I'd even posit that even if all the apps on the App Store were free (at least free from an Apple tax), it would still be worthwhile for Apple to run it, in terms of sustaining the value of the ecosystem for iPhone buyers.