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So it’s a 30% tax on the digital economy? The first iPhone didn’t even have an App Store, it can be a viable business without all this.

bee_rider 4y ago
No, it is a 30% price for using their service. The digital economy is not completely owned by Apple. I get that the article called it a tax, but Apple isn't a state, they respond to market pressures, if people don't like it they can do business elsewhere.
- concinds 4y ago
  That's what Apple's lawyers argue. The 30% is to pay for Xcode and the APIs. It's BS; Apple's providing an iPhone SDK willingly in order to make the iPhone a viable product. The argument completely falls apart when you consider that Windows devs don't need to pay Microsoft a per-unit sale tax, beyond paying for Visual Studio Enterprise licenses (which are completely optional; there's many other IDEs). Microsoft charging devs for Windows APIs would be nonsensical. Running the App Store is just a cost of doing business. Again, nobody forced Apple to. It benefits them tremendously, and benefits users as well. Why gouge devs?
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    I don't buy the argument really that it is "to pay for" Xcode. It is just another revenue stream and they charge what they can get. Microsoft would charge for their product if people were willing to pay for it.
    - concinds 4y ago
      Sure. The Xcode argument is Apple's.
    - randomdata 4y ago
      > It is just another revenue stream No different than the iPhone itself. Apple has already paid for the iPhone out of their coffers before you buy it. Your purchase is nothing more than another source of revenue that replenishes those coffers. It is just a colloquialism to say that the money you spent was to pay for the iPhone, as it is for Xcode in this case.
- agentdrtran 4y ago
  > if people don't like it they can do business elsewhere in a pedantic sense sure, but in the real world no product that ignores the (affluent) 50% of mobile phone users has a chance in hell of surviving.
- yunwal 4y ago
  The OS that comes with their hardware basically ensures the digital economy is owned by Apple if you want to use an Apple product. I challenge anyone to distribute any moderately UI-heavy software to iPhone users without using the app store.

bee_rider 4y ago

No, it is a 30% price for using their service. The digital economy is not completely owned by Apple. I get that the article called it a tax, but Apple isn't a state, they respond to market pressures, if people don't like it they can do business elsewhere.

concinds 4y ago
That's what Apple's lawyers argue. The 30% is to pay for Xcode and the APIs. It's BS; Apple's providing an iPhone SDK willingly in order to make the iPhone a viable product. The argument completely falls apart when you consider that Windows devs don't need to pay Microsoft a per-unit sale tax, beyond paying for Visual Studio Enterprise licenses (which are completely optional; there's many other IDEs). Microsoft charging devs for Windows APIs would be nonsensical. Running the App Store is just a cost of doing business. Again, nobody forced Apple to. It benefits them tremendously, and benefits users as well. Why gouge devs?
- bee_rider 4y ago
  I don't buy the argument really that it is "to pay for" Xcode. It is just another revenue stream and they charge what they can get. Microsoft would charge for their product if people were willing to pay for it.
  - concinds 4y ago
    Sure. The Xcode argument is Apple's.
  - randomdata 4y ago
    > It is just another revenue stream No different than the iPhone itself. Apple has already paid for the iPhone out of their coffers before you buy it. Your purchase is nothing more than another source of revenue that replenishes those coffers. It is just a colloquialism to say that the money you spent was to pay for the iPhone, as it is for Xcode in this case.
agentdrtran 4y ago
> if people don't like it they can do business elsewhere in a pedantic sense sure, but in the real world no product that ignores the (affluent) 50% of mobile phone users has a chance in hell of surviving.
yunwal 4y ago
The OS that comes with their hardware basically ensures the digital economy is owned by Apple if you want to use an Apple product. I challenge anyone to distribute any moderately UI-heavy software to iPhone users without using the app store.