We can still complain about their walled-garden approach to software distribution, particularly the extortionist 30% fee and handicapping of non-native apps. Or their kowtowing to the Chinese censors.
As an aside: As an engineer, I dislike their walled garden approach; but I love their approach as a consumer. To be frank, most companies have bad taste and poor UX design. Apple doesn't knock it out the park all the time, but their products are consistently good and their design guidelines for iOS apps enforce some of the same quality. So yeah, I'll take a walled garden approach if the garden is beautiful.
Quite often anti-competitive actions are beneficial to customers at the expense of other companies.
As a consumer, I don't give a damn if Apple is "mean" to your business. Learn to compete better.
If these companies are stopping a better product from coming to the market then by all means lets throw antitrust at them; but if your product is just a clone and/or lower quality product that cannot get users, nobody cares.
Sorry, but learn to compete.
There is a major difference between what Microsoft was doing back in 90s and what Apple is doing today.
Not to mention the cut the publishers, wholesellers, and the retail stores use to take when you sold boxed software.
Their cut is the same as Google’s and Steams.
Steam charges 30% to be on its store. Same with PlayStation and Microsoft Store.
Seems like it’s the standard distribution fee.
That would subject each service fee component to competitive quality/demand forces within Apple, e.g. app search, trials/CRM workflow, app distribution. Developers and users can both exert choice on the subset of fees applied to a transaction, so they can provide performance-based feedback to Apple.
Even a monopolist can compete with itself, to improve service and product.
Before that carriers had much higher fees when you sold J2ME apps on feature phones through thier store.
I said it was extortionist, not baseless. Of course they deserve a fee. But it's extortionist in the sense that you have no choice, if you want to sell to worldwide mobile users with deep pockets. Apple also forces as many payments as possible to go through their network, and bans apps that try to take payment outside the store if the app does not provide sufficient justification. In fact, they could just probably charge 50% and developers would keep paying them...
> Steam charges 30% to be on its store
Pretty sure Steve Jobs didn't set the 30% price point by looking at the Steam store, lol. More likely it was the other way around and Steam is 30% because the App Store is 30%...
And what exactly is the alternative option for them there? They can either follow the rules in China or completely lose all of their business. That is on China, not Apple.