Yeah, Apple only looks pro-Consumer because they're still in the business of selling software, hardware, and software services to consumers. Their competition is all funded by corporate advertising.

It's not a matter of Apple being a positive force for consumers or customers. They're simply the most magnanimous blackguard.

Apple's 30% cut is only from purchases and not from ads so it pushes all the apps you get on that platform towards ads. So even they themselves doesn't get a lot of money from ads, their policy greatly encourages ad based monetization.

By that logic literally everything is based on advertising. That makes the argument meaningless rather than convincing.

It’s a matter of the alignment of incentives.

Apple has built their business over the years to be generally aligned with the incentives of most of their customers. So, Apple profits at selling hardware and software and services that works the way the vast majority of their customers want.

The fact that there are a small percentage of malcontents who don’t like the way that Apple manages their business, that should not be grounds for Apple to be forced to change the way they run that business. If those malcontents don’t like it, then they can go somewhere else and build their own business and run it the way they want. They’re not forced to stay here.

The only time that Apple should be required to change the way they run their business is when the majority of their customers are being harmed by the way Apple works today, and the majority of their customers want Apple to make that change. And Apple is usually pretty good about making those kinds of changes in advance of being required to do so.

That 30% cut that Apple takes from the largest companies, that pays for a lot of benefits that you and I do not see, and cannot see. They’ve already reduced the price they charge for most developers, only the top 1% are affected by that 30% fee. And I, for one, am perfectly happy that the top 1% earners on the platform are paying a higher percentage of their earnings in order to support the platform.

On the payment side, the equation is largely the same. Yes, they might take a larger bite out of the transaction fees, but they provide significant benefits. I am totally happy to have that situation, as are the vast majority of other Apple customers. Again, the problem here is with a small number of malcontents that can easily go somewhere else.

Um, duh? Isn't that implied?

Would you describe any company's actions under the light of "yeah they only did that because it lost money". That's not just something companies don't do; its illegal (for public companies).

Nitpick: it’s not illegal to drive a company into the ground. It’s illegal to lie to your shareholders about doing so (it’s fraud). The “fiduciary duty” to shareholders is not a legal thing.

If I tell my shareholders that I’m gonna drive my company into the ground by laying off 90% of the staff, and they give me money, that’s not my problem.