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> Apple seems to do a lot less, but wants ~1/3 of every transaction. I would bet Apple has put more into R&D for iPhones, iPads and iOS than the entire enterpr

by booi 2y ago

> Apple seems to do a lot less, but wants ~1/3 of every transaction. I would bet Apple has put more into R&D for iPhones, iPads and iOS than the entire enterprise value of visa and mastercard put together. If anything, they've worked for it more than visa/mastercard who are merely rails with distribution. Most of the heavy lifting, risk and work in the card ecosystem is done by the issuers (banks et. al.)

thorncorona 2y ago
I think you underestimate the difficulty of competing against visa or mastercard. Visa and mastercard are logistical masterpieces. Think of how much legal work needs to be done in order to be compliant in every country in the world.
- netsharc 2y ago
  Since they're giants, I wonder how much of the compliance is the other way: countries being strong-armed to comply with their terms.
  - lukan 2y ago
    "countries being strong-armed to comply with their terms." I suppose that is just another way of describing "legal work" in this context.
croes 2y ago
The high margins of iPhones and iPad gets already already justified with Apple's R&D costs. And it would be morally wrong to put that costs on the app developers, without their apps the store is useless. The lack of apps killed Windows Phone.
conductr 2y ago
If desktop pc users saw Microsoft taking a third of every transaction from yourmoms.com to Amazon.com because they did the heavy lifting of popularizing the home pc and web browser usage, I think you’d realize how ridiculous that argument sounds. They built it to sell something else, operating systems and then some ancillary stuff. They became one of the most valuable companies in the world off just that. Just like the iOS was built to sell phones. They make plenty off phones. They’ve made Apple one of the most valuable companies in the world too. Access to an App Store has become a requirement of a modern phone, so they wouldn’t sell many without it. But it doesn’t mean they should be able to tax the entire economy so heavily. Just like how running a browser is a requirement of modern browsers for an operating system, but that doesn’t mean the operating system should be allowed to tax the entire economy of activity that takes place on said operating system.
tpm 2y ago
> I would bet Apple has put more into R&D for iPhones, iPads and iOS And you pay for that when you buy the device. That does not justify paying Apple huge percentage each time when you are paying for an app.

by booi 2y ago

thorncorona 2y ago

I think you underestimate the difficulty of competing against visa or mastercard. Visa and mastercard are logistical masterpieces. Think of how much legal work needs to be done in order to be compliant in every country in the world.

netsharc 2y ago
Since they're giants, I wonder how much of the compliance is the other way: countries being strong-armed to comply with their terms.
- lukan 2y ago
  "countries being strong-armed to comply with their terms." I suppose that is just another way of describing "legal work" in this context.

croes 2y ago

The high margins of iPhones and iPad gets already already justified with Apple's R&D costs. And it would be morally wrong to put that costs on the app developers, without their apps the store is useless. The lack of apps killed Windows Phone.

conductr 2y ago

If desktop pc users saw Microsoft taking a third of every transaction from yourmoms.com to Amazon.com because they did the heavy lifting of popularizing the home pc and web browser usage, I think you’d realize how ridiculous that argument sounds. They built it to sell something else, operating systems and then some ancillary stuff. They became one of the most valuable companies in the world off just that. Just like the iOS was built to sell phones. They make plenty off phones. They’ve made Apple one of the most valuable companies in the world too. Access to an App Store has become a requirement of a modern phone, so they wouldn’t sell many without it. But it doesn’t mean they should be able to tax the entire economy so heavily. Just like how running a browser is a requirement of modern browsers for an operating system, but that doesn’t mean the operating system should be allowed to tax the entire economy of activity that takes place on said operating system.

tpm 2y ago

> I would bet Apple has put more into R&D for iPhones, iPads and iOS And you pay for that when you buy the device. That does not justify paying Apple huge percentage each time when you are paying for an app.