That sort of accounting has never worked. Countless internet companies have gone bankrupt because they thought the marginal cost of supporting customers was zero, multiplied that by their customer base and thought that meant their cost base was zero. Turns out that’s not a convincing argument to use to people you owe money to.

A coupe of years after the App Store launched I’m pretty sure one of Apples execs said it cost over a $billion a year to operate. That will only have gone up since then.