That may be the argument, but the result is that managing the free apps by companies like Facebook and Google in the App Store are subsidized by taking that 30%

That may be the argument, but the result is that managing the free apps by companies like Facebook and Google in the App Store are subsidized by taking that 30% from tiny outfits like OmniGroup and Panic, that make paid productivity apps. Responding to many of the arguments I read around on Twitter: I don’t see how anyone can use the word “fair” to describe this arrangement, no matter how many ways people compare it to a console like Nintendo.