Apple insults developers by denying the value apps bring to iOS and ignoring the part marketing and developer reputation play in attracting people to apps
Apple's leaders continue to deny developers of two obvious truths: — That our apps provide substantial value to iOS beyond the purchase commissions collected by Apple.
Marco.orgMarco Arment
Context & Ripple Effects
Marco Arment's argument lands mid-arc in a long-running dispute over what iOS apps are actually worth to Apple. The counterpoint from inessential holds that the App Store attracts users because it is the only choice on iPhone, not because it offers exceptional distribution or marketing — directly contradicting Apple's framing that its storefront machinery drives app demand.
Apple has since doubled down rather than concede: a Daring Fireball piece flags the company's sense of entitlement to commissions as a confrontational posture, and an Apple-funded study touting $1.3T in developer billings with 90% of it commission-free reads as the statistical version of the same rhetorical move this article criticizes.
First-order effects
Developers arguing for lower commissions lose the framing fight in the short run: if Apple maintains that apps add no value beyond the purchases it taxes, the 15–30% cut looks like compensation for services rendered rather than a rent on access.
Developers' own marketing spend and reputations become the unpriced subsidy propping up App Store demand — work Apple captures without crediting or compensating.
Second-order effects
Regulators weighing App Store rules get developer testimony that contradicts Apple's value narrative, sharpening cases like those behind Apple's later punitive compliance posture and eroding the goodwill Apple spends when defending new platforms such as Vision Pro.
The dispute pushes Apple toward self-serving evidence — funding studies that quantify developer earnings while omitting the value flowing back into iOS — which critics can then dissect line by line.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, the legitimacy of the App Store's take rate will be settled less by Apple's rhetoric than by regulators and courts treating distribution as a monopoly service — pricing it accordingly rather than accepting Apple's valuation of itself.
The trend: The App Store debate is shifting from whether Apple deserves a commission on every sale to who gets to define the value exchange between platform and developers.
Only a few days before WWDC, Apple has a major developer-relations problem. It isn't the 30%, or the 15%, or the App Store rules. It's what Apple's leadership thinks of developers and our work. https://marco.org/...
Whatever the ruling of Epic's case vs Apple, a major and permanent blow has been inflicted on Apple by forcing its leadership to testify under oath at just how little the $>2 trillion market capped company actually values the developers of its platforms. https://marco.org/... htt…
“It isn't the App Store that has enabled all of the commerce on iOS — it's the entire world of computing and modern society, created by a symbiotic ecosystem in which Apple played one part alongside many others.” https://twitter.com/...
@marcoarment A slight change could make the ending hit harder: “But the leaders have already shown us who they really are, what they really think of us, and how *little* they value our work.”
Remember “there's an app for that”? Apple, for a moment, cared about developers' success. Not because they wanted to. Just because iPhone's success depended on devs filling functionality gaps for them. Count how many apps were sherlocked/acquired! #WWDC21 https://www.youtube.com/…
“But [Apple's] leaders have already shown us who they really are, what they really think of us, and how much they value our work.” Spot on. If WWDC were in-person, I'd hope the keynote audience would greet Tim Cook with 5 minutes of continuous booing for his recent comments. http…
Developers and customers are the backbone of the #AppStore. @Marcoarment says for @Apple to deny these truths is “dishonest, factually wrong, and extremely insulting - not only to our efforts, but to the intelligence of all Apple developers and customers.” https://marco.org/...
@afwaller @marcoarment watching 1998 versus 2016 WWDC the difference in tone is striking. Apple used to _beg_ for developers and say the same things, there used to be live Q + A with _Steve J himself_ where you could troll him personally and question future API direction https://…
@marcoarment I'd say 99% of my app purchases over the last 10+ years had nothing to do with App Store searching and everything to do with the developer advertising or word of mouth.
No lies detected. It's not all the executives equally, but it's definitely Cook, and the others are willing to toe his line. Apple is willing burn developers over their 30% cut. It's ludicruous, short-sighted, and embarassing to watch. https://twitter.com/...
This is exactly what I've been saying the last year, but less eloquent. It isn't about a certain percentage. It's about Apple recognizing that their success is just as much an achievement of external developers as their own efforts. https://twitter.com/...