How true. Well, except for:
- designing and manufacturing the hardware
- marketing and selling the hardware
- creating and promoting the Books app
- popularizing podcasts with the iPod
- creating and promoting the Podcasts app
etc.
> They don't deserve 30% of that.
This illustrates my point: the core dispute is over platform fees charged by the App Store.
- the hardware I already paid for
- this should be included in the price of the hardware (and certainly is in the case of Apple)
- I don't use the Books app, I use the Amazon Kindle app
- I never listened to a podcast on my iPod
- I don't use the Podcasts app, I use the Spotify app
So in the case of Amazon/Spotify, what value is Apple delivering beyond paying for download bandwidth in order for me to download the app (which is like, $0.000001 of bw costs)?
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing offers 2 options: 35% royalty and 70% royalty.
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200644210
You can choose between two royalty options for each of your eBooks: the 35% royalty option and the 70% royalty option.
-If you select the 35% royalty option, your royalty will be 35% of your list price without VAT for each unit sold.
-If you select the 70% royalty option, your royalty will be 70% of your list price without VAT, less delivery costs (average delivery costs are $0.06 per unit sold, and vary by file size), for each eligible book sold to customers in the 70% territories, and 35% of the list price without VAT for each unit sold to customers residing outside the 70% territories.
But it isn’t. One of the reasons Apple continues to support old hardware is they collect revenue from the App Store on older devices.
The platform ecosystem is more than just device hardware + server hardware + bandwidth.
I'm sure the store is a factor though!
Including, with help from fees charged to developers and the 30% revenue cut, funding development of all the tools and platforms that make it all possible.
Amazon and Spotify (and their customers) would not do as well without this ecosystem and its tools, devices, and platforms.
I think the value of the ecosystem including all the aspects mentioned is huge. Device sales alone would not ever come close to paying for it all, if you want devices to be in reach of normal people and you don’t want to build your business off of intrusive personalized advertising.