It's quite amazing how hard Apple is pushing this now with all of the extra regulatory eyes on the subject. I guess they're fairly confident that they're untouchable.
Well, except they can point at Amazon, who only pays a 15% cut: https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/20/21378156/apple-news-publi...
I imagine Amazon suspects that they have enough people who have already purchased prime that the in-app purchase usage won't be a significant revenue drain - and I imagine that Apple has a contract with terms specifically to prevent Amazon "pulling an Epic" should it turn out that their assumption of subscription percentages be wrong.
Even buying e.g. a Pixel several years after release at 270€, the phone is definitely the most expensive part.
Consider what would happen if Mastercard and Visa proclaimed that you can no longer accept cash if you want to accept their services ! And then someone would say "but Mastercard is not a monopoly neither is Visa". At one point they even managed to make it illegal to transfer the transaction fees to user visibly as surcharge - but you are still allowed to have a "cash only discount" - Apple and Google are effectively killing this option by preventing third party payment systems and people are saying "they aren't a monopoly".
Fixing this should be pretty straightforward and should apply to all digital app stores :
a) force equal access to these stores (anyone who can legally apply must be able to, irregardless of their relation with store owner, eg. Epic vs Apple, there should be some provisions about what kind of content is not acceptable - but this should be defined on platform basis and enforced consistently, otherwise it should grant you basis for damages suit)
b) force app stores to accept all payment forms in-app (that comply to payment processing standards) - people here claim that app store payment provides them with security, convenience, etc. and I agree - but if I was given the option at a 25% markup (other payment providers aren't free either) I go for other option every time. At 10% over standard payment provider it's a different story - and that's still an insanely profitable spot for them. Point is - consumers decide what benefits them.
c) force app store reviews to follow specific guidelines: time limit on feedback, require explicit feedback of rule violations when you get denied access - to allow appeals through courts if the review process gets abused
Here's an article which claims credit card surcharges are disallowed but cash discounts are not. https://www.cardfellow.com/blog/cash-discount-eliminate-proc...
Saying "Android exists" is kind of like saying "you don't have to deal with Standard Oil or the railroads...you can just use coal instead and haul it by ship." Fat lot of good that does you when you have a bunch of oil-burning machinery you've invested in.
It's a new and developing market, and generally it would be nice to let things play out, but, there probably has to be anti-trust action of some kind.
In particular, it's not quite right to think of them as 'devices' or 'os's' - it's about 'all the other stuff' i.e. mapping, search etc..