This seems almost certainly correct. The 30% cut for the App Store had a precedent of a 30% cut for media in the iTunes Store. In the past I've jokes that the f

This seems almost certainly correct. The 30% cut for the App Store had a precedent of a 30% cut for media in the iTunes Store. In the past I've jokes that the fees in the App Store were chosen so they could just use the existing infrastructure with as little change as possible -- and while it's a joke, it's not entirely a joke. It's pretty easy to see the execs at Apple looking at that and saying, "Hey, 30% is way cheaper than what physical software stores charge for shelf space, and it's in line with other digital media stores that handle not just payment processing but hosting, downloading, review aggregation, and marketing, so it's a great deal, right?" And, IIRC at the time it was seen as a great deal. It may not be such a good deal now, though, and in-app purchases are really a whole other kettle of fish.