Comment by jariel
4 years ago
Those apps existed before Apple had power.
That's important because Apple couldn't have started their ruse by moving in and taking away FB's power from the start.
If FB was weaker, Apple could be moving on their turf now by requiring a cut of their money.
You're missing the bit about power and value chains here: if Apple can take all of your surpluses, they will, it has nothing to do with how much money you make.
Consider also the vast distortions happening right now: and digital player that wants to charge a fee - has to give 30% to Apple. That's huge.
The alternative is advertising - for now - Apple doesn't go after that.
Many businesses to not run on huge margins - if you could eke out a 5% margin living under Apple's 30% cut, and switch to ads (assuming same revenue/gross margins), then you'd 5x your revenue.
Of the monopolizers, Facebook is the least worst - nobody needs them, and they're not a primary source for anything.
Apple's closed system is the worst, followed by Google's incumbency of search, propped up by their control of Android, Chrome etc. Thirdly is Google's abuse of Search to screw over competitors in near fields.
SnapChat and TikTok were both created well after Apple achieved its current market position. Not to mention the fact that I have only picked a few examples from a few categories. What will you say when I add Uber, Door Dash, AirBnB and others to the list? Again, I'm barely scratching the surface here.
You really can't escape the fact that applications built on top of Apple's platform are worth, in aggregate, multiples of Apple's market cap. I'm not an Apple apologist, this is just obvious math.
Companies that use Verizon network are bigger in aggregate than Verizon itself! Look at all the value Verizon has created!
Also - neither Snap nor TikTok charge money for their apps, it was never an option due to Apple's monopoly.