That's sure a step in the right direction but it still feels like a very unjustified form of rent-seeking. Ideally it should be possible to distribute an iOS ap

That's sure a step in the right direction but it still feels like a very unjustified form of rent-seeking. Ideally it should be possible to distribute an iOS app without paying a single cent to Apple and without any Apple involvement whatsoever. Same way you can distribute Android apps right now.