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Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by anilshanbhag on Friday July 31, 2020 @04:38PM (#24013707)
Well they can do all that with a 10% fee too. The author is contending that by adding those restrictions and a high 30% fee, Apple is acting like a monopoly - it's their way or the highway.
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by pwinnski on Friday July 31, 2020 @05:24PM (#24014331)
What evidence do you have that a 10% fee is enough to operate the App Store at the scale Apple does?

When the App Store was launched, Steve Jobs said they plan to run it at break-even, no profit, and for quite a few years that was exactly what they did. Now they are profiting from the App Store and clearly could continue to run it as they do on a lower percentage, but I don't think 10% is that number. If they could run it on 10%, they wouldn't have operated it without profit for the first quite-a-few years at 30%!

Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by ac29 on Friday July 31, 2020 @11:31PM (#24017192)
I cant find any evidence in their financial reports of Apple breaking down sales and cost of sales for the App store in early years. I would be very, very surprised though if it was not profitable almost immediately (unless you creatively move around numbers and claim 100% of the iPhone's R&D was a cost of sale for the app store).
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by pwinnski on Monday August 03, 2020 @10:24AM (#24038118)
You are correct, I am taking their early claims at face value, but they never produced supporting numbers. I would be shocked if their claims weren't true, however.

Because of the lack of numbers, I'm not sure how long it was before running at break-even ceased to be a thing, though.

Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by vogre on Friday July 31, 2020 @04:46PM (#24013815)
Why do you think that fee is unfair?
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by sanxiyn on Friday July 31, 2020 @04:50PM (#24013871)
Because, I guarantee, if iOS app distribution market was competitive, fee would be lower than 30%. 30% fee is a monopolistic rent.
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by basch on Friday July 31, 2020 @05:06PM (#24014099)
Suppose you make the argument that developers, not consumers, pay for the dev kits, language, development, improvement, apis of the os. 30% might appropriately reflect the amount of work in an app that is apples work.

30% of subscriptions on the other hand might not.

Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by ac29 on Friday July 31, 2020 @11:41PM (#24017259)
Fortunately, Apple breaks it down for us:

Services net sales in 2019 was $46.2B, and the cost of those sales was $16.8B (source 2019 10-K). They dont specifically break out App store vs other services, but as a whole the services section of their business is very, very profitable, according to their accounting. It remains so even if you throw in the entirety of R&D ($16.2B).

Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by eigen on Friday July 31, 2020 @05:02PM (#24014053)
Google Play store is also 30%.

> For apps and in-app products offered through Google Play, the service fee is equivalent to 30% of the price. You receive 70% of the payment. The remaining 30% goes to the distribution partner and operating fees. [https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...]

Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by d1zzy on Friday July 31, 2020 @06:22PM (#24014906)
And Steam (unless you have a very popular game) and GOG.

But it's easy to argue that many of these just derived their rates from what existing similar store fees were. Epic Game Store tried to disrupt this and they're still at it a few years later but for most developers publishing on Steam/GOG nothing changed.

Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by sanxiyn on Friday July 31, 2020 @05:08PM (#24014121)
OneStore fee is 20%.
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by skuthus on Friday July 31, 2020 @04:49PM (#24013851)
Because you cannot opt for a different store if you don't like the fee. If you want to sell independently, you cant. If you want to sell alternatively, you cant. This excludes many devs and shops from access.
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by bwb on Friday July 31, 2020 @04:53PM (#24013921)
This is their platform... maybe the gov can make this a legal monopoly like the NFL. And, everyone gets the same % rate, same rules, and no apple competition in apps. Same for Google...
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by sanxiyn on Friday July 31, 2020 @05:03PM (#24014067)
It is NOT same for Google, and that's exactly the point.
Re:The App Store is a monopoly: Here's why the EU is correct... by bwb on Friday July 31, 2020 @05:10PM (#24014150)
How is their app store any diff?