> 30% of all revenue that passes through an iPhone
A bit of hyperbole there. 30% of revenue from sales of digital goods after the first $1m (15% before).
I’ve probably spent $20k on Amazon using my iPhone this year alone. You don’t think Apple takes 30% of that, do you?
Besides, it’s so funny when people use “rent seeking” as a pejorative. Like, yes, the reason my landlord bought this house for a lot of capital up front was that they believed it would be profitable rent it for much smaller amounts for a long time. What, am I supposed to feel entitled to use the house for free?
A bunch of years ago I made several hundred thousand dollars from the App Store. You know how much I would have made without the app store? Zero. Do you think I begrudge the 30% I paid, any more than I begrudge the rent I pay for this house?
I understand people who dislike the Apple walled garden and want no part of it. I do not understand people who want all of the benefits but expect Apple to provide it for free.
> 30% of revenue from sales of digital goods after the first $1m (15% before).
Not quite - if you go over $1m in revenue you pay 30% on all revenue in the following year.
I honestly believe that if the App Store were to start now, they would feel entitled for a cut of all physical goods transactions that happen.
I don't believe Apple produces 30% of value when someone (hypothetically) signs up for Netflix on an iPhone. Apple's App Store actively hinders value creation when they prevent Netflix from using their existing saved credit cards to re-subscribe a user on an iOS device.
> Do you think I begrudge the 30% I paid, any more than I begrudge the rent I pay for this house?
It sounds like you saw value in something, and you paid for it. A competitive product would be able to stand on it's own and developers (and users) could make a decision on what product they wish to use - I'm sure that a lot of developers would continue to use Apple's payment infrastructure because they find it easier!
> I honestly believe that if the App Store were to start now, they would feel entitled for a cut of all physical goods transactions that happen.
There must be a name for this fallacy, where one bases their opinions on speculations about how things would be different today if their already-held opinions had been true long ago. Some kind of retroactive confirmation bias?
> It sounds like you saw value in something, and you paid for it. A competitive product would be able to stand on it's own and developers (and users) could make a decision on what product they wish to use - I'm sure that a lot of developers would continue to use Apple's payment infrastructure because they find it easier!
You're not paying for the payment infrastructure. You're paying for the discoverability and distribution. I cheerfully paid 30% to reach a few hundred thousand users when I could have reached, maybe, tens of users on my own. I find it hilarious when people explain how I was ripped off with exorbitant fees.
>Besides, it’s so funny when people use “rent seeking” as a pejorative
"People" including anybody from Marx to the left, all the way to Friendman and Hayek to the right, including Adam Smith...
Sorry, rent-seeking is milking assets without producing value (or with only minimal investment/maintainance costs). It's the opposite of a functional market.
>Like, yes, the reason my landlord bought this house for a lot of capital up front was that they believed it would be profitable rent it for much smaller amounts for a long time. What, am I supposed to feel entitled to use the house for free?
No, you're supposed to not want an economy where people don't mouch off of standing assets, but actually contribute to making value (and products and progress and stuff).
Rent-seeking 101: "Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, and potential national decline."
The Apple ecosystem is not the App Store. They make money off the sales of physical products and their own services like iCloud.
Making money off of the App Store is pure rent seeking. It's maintainance and (very infrequent) improvement costs (negliblible compared to its profit) don't make it any less so. Heck, actual rented properties like houses also incur some maintainances costs on the owner.
> Besides, it’s so funny when people use “rent seeking” as a pejorative. Like, yes, the reason my landlord bought this house for a lot of capital up front was that they believed it would be profitable rent it for much smaller amounts for a long time. What, am I supposed to feel entitled to use the house for free?
They mean "rent" the econ jargon, not "rent" the thing you pay to your landlord.
A bit of hyperbole there. 30% of revenue from sales of digital goods after the first $1m (15% before).
I’ve probably spent $20k on Amazon using my iPhone this year alone. You don’t think Apple takes 30% of that, do you?
Besides, it’s so funny when people use “rent seeking” as a pejorative. Like, yes, the reason my landlord bought this house for a lot of capital up front was that they believed it would be profitable rent it for much smaller amounts for a long time. What, am I supposed to feel entitled to use the house for free?
A bunch of years ago I made several hundred thousand dollars from the App Store. You know how much I would have made without the app store? Zero. Do you think I begrudge the 30% I paid, any more than I begrudge the rent I pay for this house?
I understand people who dislike the Apple walled garden and want no part of it. I do not understand people who want all of the benefits but expect Apple to provide it for free.