[nabla9]

The operating cost is the maximum Apple can come up with when their accountants attribute everything they possibly can to digital sales for the sake of legal argument. R&D shouldn't really be included, and Apple uses those same tools and APIs themselves. I think the actual profit margin is closer to 90%, and Apple could maintain a 20% margin with just a 3–4% fee.

[rob74]

I'd say that in the case of Patreon, any fee for Apple is unjustified. Apple can justify their fee on app purchases/subscriptions in the app store, but Patreon is not an app subscription, the money goes mostly from the patrons to the people they support. Ok, Patreon takes a cut to cover their operating costs, and also make a profit (not sure how profitable they are currently), but I really can't see how Apple, who don't have anything to do with this process except for listing the Patreon app on the app store, can justify taking a cut.

[silvestrov]

You could make the argument that Patreon isn't much more than a banking app.

It just focuses on the receiver of the money than the sender.

I think Apple is slowly killing apps with this policy. Everybody will slowly move to "web only" as 30% would kill their ability to compete with anybody else. This will likely be much stronger in countries where iPhones do not have the same market share as in the US.

[yibg]

No kidding. Imagine if Apple took 30% of your Venmo transfers.

[akerl_]

Why are you ok with Patreon taking a cut but not Apple?

[MadameMinty]

Next up, 2% cut whenever you use any banking or payment app. Only 1.5% when you use Apple Pay!

[saimiam]

If a user almost exclusively uses the Patreon ios app to consume the artist’s content and likes to live inside the ios ecosystem for frictionless payments using the card on file/privacy/UX/whatever, then I feel apple should get to set the terms of engagement.

If you were a chain store in a high end mall where customers cars were all parked for free by valets, mall staff knew their names, and generally made them feel special, you’d not balk at a higher commission to be paid to mall for access to their customers, right? Airports come to mind for this.

I believe apple lets you set whatever price you want on their store, just not tell customers that they could get a lower price elsewhere/on the vendor’s website (I don’t follow App Store policies very closely so my info is probably out of date).

[seemaze]

Certainly not defending Apple's behavior in this instance, but isn't the success of the larger product ecosystem a direct driver of their App Store profitability? To strictly evaluate the App Store finances in isolation seems to be the sort of accusation you've levied against Apple in the opposite direction..

I like Apple less and less these days for various reasons, but I haven't purchased an app on the App Store in more than a decade. It's strictly a vehicle for local utilities when, for whatever reason, a browser will not suffice. Nearly all purchasing is done on the 'open' web.

[jbs789]

Or you could argue the App Store wouldn’t exist without the hardware, so the relevant reporting is both combined - lower margins.

[parineum]

> ...for the sake of legal argument. R&D shouldn't really be included

That's an incredibly ridiculous take. R&D is an operating cost and it's an ongoing expense related to the app store existing.

> I think the actual profit margin is closer to ...

You can replace "think" there with "feel".