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Comment by andy_ppp | Hacker News Reader

I’m so tired of this Apple tax, I think nobody would be this annoyed if Apple were saying 10% or something around that. 30% is more than most companies pay in tax on profits and this is a tax on revenue. I don’t think abusing your market position like some kind of protection racket should be allowed and if you don’t like it we’ll delete your App is quite frankly just as bad as the mafia smashing in shop windows. I doubt anyone will stop them but we can hope…

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If only it was just about the money. The review process itself is beyond ridiculous sometimes, and sometimes has you remove things from your apps that you want and your users want, but Apple doesn't like.

> I think nobody would be this annoyed if Apple were saying 10% or something around that. 30% is more than most companies pay in tax on profits

Almost every developer pays 15%. You only pay 30% if you earn more than a million dollars a year from the App Store.

This is an extremely long tail problem. When you count the absolute numbers on the revenue, it's much larger. Perhaps the absolute majority of the app store revenue would be subject to the 30% tax. Money matters, not the number of apps.

30% isn't some outlier share though? It also has been that way since the beginning, so it's not like they achieved their market position and then jacked up the prices; it's been this way the whole time - and, in fact, they've added programs where smaller businesses only pay a 15% commission..

Not an outlier and is pretty standard. When it was originally announced it was one of the best deals out there for developers writing software for phones. The WWDC audience cheered at getting 70%.

Doesn't matter. Why does the developer of the operating system get to take anything from a sale between an app developer and the owner of the actual cellphone? It is not Apples phone anymore after they sell it to a customer. Imagine if your car manufacturer wanted 30% of revenue from the shops you drive your car to.

Replace "developer of the operating system" with "curator of the ecosystem of highly affluent, paying customers" and you'll start to understand why Apple thinks they should have a cut. They see themselves as the headhunter, finding paying customers for the developer.

The WWDC audience cheers at everything.

Wasn't the market for mobile app small at the time. Almost everyone was focused on desktop and web applications. If you're looking to make millions, even preferential deals don't look like a good deal.

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