App prices are low because Apple sets low reference prices, eg. $10 for Office, combined with developers with little marketing skill who can't communicate a val

App prices are low because Apple sets low reference prices, eg. $10 for Office, combined with developers with little marketing skill who can't communicate a value prop and instead think basic econ, that is to say, lower prices = more sales. The average indie developer (and the entire android ecosystem) is more interested in having users than having profit. iOS types talk profit share, android types talk marketshare. It's a difference fundamentally in what the product is, iOS is an Operating System, Android is an Advertising System, hence you see lower prices on Android because the product is its users. It's a classic overly competitive economic case where the benefits of reduced production cost accrue to consumers rather than producers, such is the case in textiles and the well known case of Berkshire Hathaway. The similarities between textiles and software are interesting because they are dominated by high capital costs (software is fundamentally a capital good with huge labour inputs), and low costs of reproduction.