Apple hires economists to help prove its App Store commissions aren't anti-competitive
expensively! — buying PalmOS apps for my Treo from websites like Palm InfoCenter (and I believe CrackBerry had their own web-based app store?) prior the iOS App Store. It was just $30+ an app and the experience was terrible. Not sure what the cut was. Chris Maddern / @chrismaddern : This study is interesting, but irrelevant. The problem isn't the 30%. The problem is that the App Store is the only way to distribute software to over 1 billion devices. https://twitter.com/... Brent Simmons / @brentsimmons : Again with the 30% Apple cut. It's not the only issue with the App Store. But I can't help thinking about how some of my friends would still have a job at Omni had that cut been actually reasonable. It's not the only issue, but it's not nothing, either. @jason : Apple's 30% is fair, but they should allow consumers to install 3rd party App Stores (perhaps with a setting & disclaimer that you will no longer get Apple support if use them) https://www.techmeme.com/... Quinn Nelson / @snazzyq : ‘Apple releases propaganda’ would be a more apt headline. https://twitter.com/... Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : More researchers use stores with 30% fees! https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... @rsebbe : Yeah, let's all focus on the 30% Apple cut non-problem. (during that time, all the fundamental App Store issues - business model crippling, unfair competition, search & featuring - can all be silently discarded) https://twitter.com/... Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz : Looking forward to reading their op-eds https://twitter.com/... Alex Heath / @alexeheath : case closed I guess https://twitter.com/... Steve LeVine / @stevelevine : Apple defends its 30% rake-off-the-top of all app sales by arguing that everyone does it. Everyone does not do it — unless you are Facebook, Google, Uber and the other monopoly platforms. By comparison, the car industry earns an average 6% profit margin. https://www.analysisgroup.com/ ... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : This is a good example of corporate misdirection. The problem with Apple's 30% cut isn't that it's 30% but instead they go out of their way to force apps to give them that cut via policies that prevent you from using alternative payments or linking to site https://www.cnet.com/... Lauren Feiner / @lauren_feiner : Here's a likely peek into Apple's testimony next week before the House antitrust panel: it commissioned a study that found its App Store fees are in line with other digital marketplaces. by @kifleswing https://www.cnbc.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : They just paid some economists to Google the fees that other platforms charge and published it as a PDF. That's it https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Apple-commissioned study says the App Store is actually good. Apple released the study ahead of Tim Cook's congressional testimony next week. https://www.cnbc.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : New: Facing antitrust pressure, Apple has just released a third-party “study” on the fees charged by other online marketplaces. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Apple-funded research finds the App Store's 30% cut is right in line with prevailing rates. https://www.analysisgroup.com/ ... Thanks: @aidaakl