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You're right. Visa and Mastercard seem to do a lot more, yet charge a very small fraction of the amount.

Yet Canada has Interac and India has UPI which nationalize all digital transactions while charging even less. In Europe they’re much more heavily regulated and this charge even less than in the States.

So if within their own industry Visa and Mastercard overcharge like crazy, especially when they can, what makes you so sure that they’re a good counter example for a completely different industry? Especially when competitors seem to be charging a very similar rate for a similar service?

That being said, it is a fair point when you consider that retailers and other similar product middle men tend to charge 1-3%, but it’s important to also consider that Apple position’s itself as a luxury product and brand where 30% markup isn’t actually out of line.

Exactly right. I’m not against competitor analysis here. But let’s at least compare against a basket of structurally similar offerings instead of cherry picking companies whose rake happens to be an order of magnitude lower in percentage terms.

My point, which hasn’t really been addressed, is that “more” isn’t a meaningful term when comparing card networks and software app stores, because the markets are structurally different.

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