In addition, Apple leverages their closed system to brag about their privacy features. But what they are really doing is making sure they are the only ones that can monitor your every move online. Apple ran a large marketing campaign talking about how safe your information is on their systems, implying that companies can’t track you on your iPhone and MacBook, but they neglected to acknowledge that they are tracking everyone. Apple is doing exactly what they accuse companies like Google and Facebook of doing and wrapping themselves in the veneer of “privacy.”
I also don’t like how Apple has historically treated developers. Back in the early days of the App Store, Apple had very strict requirements for developing iPhone applications, not the least of which was to require the use of Apple’s tools to develop your app. You couldn’t build a compiler on Windows and compile Mac or iPhone applications. (I say this as a former product manager for a company that tried to do just that.)
Apple established 30% as the take rate for the App Store—a rate that I think is, well, highway robbery. Developers do all the work and Apple gets almost a third of the revenue? And then, Apple enforces that take rate not only on the price of the app itself, but on all sales made through the app on the Apple platform. Apps like Amazon’s Kindle can’t sell books on the iPhone without paying this toll. Spotify has to pay 30% of subscription fees to Apple. Naturally, Spotify’s main competitor, Apple Music, has no such requirement.
