“We never increased our commission”, argued Tim Cook yesterday during l’audition antitrust to contradict the suspicions of anti-competitive practices weighing on the App Store. But the idea went through the head of Apple in 2011, and more precisely of Eddy Cue, as revealed by emails forming part of the parliamentary committee file.
“For recurring subscriptions, we could ask for 40% for the first year alone, but we need to work on a few deals to see if that works.”, wrote in March 2011 the manager of online services in an email to three of his subordinates. This idea specifically concerned video services, such as Canal +, Hulu and ESPN, mentioned by name.
Eddy Cue’s proposal seems to be to take 40% the first year and then 30% the following years, but the proposal can also be interpreted as 40% the first and then nothing – it is even confusing for his colleagues.
Anyway, one thing is clear, “I don’t want any deal where we’re getting less than 30%. This is how it works on the App Store and I don’t want to make a difference here, declares the manager in a following email. If that is not possible, then I want a one-time premium, but we have to be very careful not to spill oil on the App Store. “
The following is known: Apple will not increase its commission but will lower it to 15% from 2016 on subscriptions after the first year of subscription.
“Just to be clear: we don’t intend to make any money from the App Store; revenue sharing with the music industry is about the same ”, stated Steve Jobs in 2008, when the App Store was presented. Twelve years later, the App Store is the most profitable activity in Apple services.
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