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Comment by m3kw9 | Hacker News Reader

Am I the only one here that thinks they deserve a cut for building such a platform?

A cut, yes. But a business-threatening third of the pie for essentially zero work on their part is extortionate and chokes the innovation in the whole app ecosystem.

I'm sure that App Store creators can chime in and expand more on that with real numbers on their balance sheet and what they mean in terms of being able to afford rent on a monthly basis.

Not to mention them bullying out competing products like Spotify.

They don't have to use in-app purchases, but they do because it's easier and quicker.

They're paying for that convenience - don't want that? Fine - just like Prime Video - pay on the website, not the app.

Edit - welp, ok, take it back, seems like that's what Hey was doing all along.

They already get paid for building the platform when people buy their devices.

A device is a one time buy

The device mainly cover hardware costs and margins. The AppStore is a service.

Have you ever looked at the history of the app store? When iPhone was first released, there was no app store. Instead Steve Jobs said:

>There’s no SDK that you need! You’ve got everything you need if you know how to write apps using the most modern web standards to write amazing apps for the iPhone today.

Before the app store, Jailbreakers were already distributing apps for the iPhone. The only reason there are no competing app stores for iPhone os because apple prohibits it. Over on Android there are competing stores. The smaller have very small market share, yet they do exist and have other rules. Apple is using the fact that they make iPhone to force developers to pay a 30% cut.

> Am I the only one here that thinks they deserve a cut for building such a platform?

Let me rephrase the question. Should a company be allowed to extract as much money as possible from consumers simply because they benefited from an economic environment that cannot support a large number of competitors?

Besides, what did Apple actually build? They didn't write those apps. The people/companies that did all the actual work were the ones that "built" the platform.

Would you consider your desktop computer or laptop a platform too?

I consider the AppStore and the guaranteed compatibility to all designated Devices a good value service.

They get a sizeable cut when they sell the phones. There's no need to let them have another 30% of whatever is done with that phone later on

No need indeed. Buy Android or Linux phone or use web apps.

The hardware doesn’t cover everything Apple does that’s why you need to pay for other Apple services. The AppStore is another service. They manage most of the hosting, checking etc too much to list here for you

Are you seriously saying this? Or because you love Apple so much that you are blind?

Their phones aren't free, they are some of the most expensive. Plus user doesn't have an alternative app store on iPhones.

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