On 9/2/2011 11:06 AM, Darren New wrote:
> On 9/2/2011 9:18, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Thu, 01 Sep 2011 22:53:28 -0700, Darren New wrote:
>>
>>> On 9/1/2011 8:57, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>>> Apple's attempts to extort *30%* of content sales with apps distributed
>>>> through the app store
>>>
>>> That's pretty much industry standard for all the app stores, including
>>> Microsoft and Android.
>>
>> I don't think so, but my sample size is one at present. (It's standard
>> for the app itself, not the paid content - the paid content is what I'm
>> talking about).
>
> Google takes a 30% cut of sales on the app store. Microsoft takes a 30%
> cut of sales on XBox indy games and Win7 phones. Amazon takes a 30% cut
> of books you publish on the Kindle.
>
But, that isn't the issue. The issue what that, to use the "in-app" 
purchase, Amazon would take a 30% cut, but then Apple would take another 
30%, since you where buying via *their* app store. So, in actuality, you 
would be paying like 60% extra, not 30%.

Think of it like an ATM transaction fee, the way they worked before 
banks mostly stopped charging their own customers. You would pay say 50 
cents to use the ATM *at all*, then another $1-$5, because you didn't 
just use the ATM card, you used "someone else's" ATM. In this case, you 
would be *required* to do all transactions for books via the Apple app, 
or even store, which would tack on 30%, but since the place you where 
*buying from* was Amazon, they would need to tack on another 30%, for 
their profit, and the result would be that, for a $1 book, you would be 
charged a 30 cent "transaction fee" by Apple, and then another 30 cents, 
by Amazon, for the actual profit they need to make from the purchase. 
Your $1 book is now $1.60. Now, make that a $10 book, and its not $3 
extra, but $6, and so on. Yet, if you bought the same book from Apple, 
it would only be $3.

Not sure why even having such a thing isn't illegal as hell, since I 
can't see it much different than if two businesses opened, both charging 
$5 for a pie, but one of them went and hired goons, to stand on the 
street and charge you an extra $1 to walk to the end of the street, 
where the other store was located, to buy the same $5 pie. Try that any 
place, but online, and you would have your ass handed to you...

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