Apple stock threatened by growing backlash against App Store revenue cut

When the AppStore was a new thing that Apple created from scratch, and was the only game in town 30% did not seem unreasonable. There are lots of options now, lots of app stores, albeit not for iOS. 30% does seem a bit high now.
However, while I think the 30% for apps could be debated, I've never understood the 30% for subscriptions. The AppStore hosted the app, it has nothing to do with Spotify's servers or Microsoft's Office365 servers. I've always been uncomfortable with Apple getting a cut of an external subscription service revenue just because they hosted the app.

Apple is always doomed. 

The Apple hating doomsayers had to think of something else to knock as AAPL is rising.  They can't allow that.

Long as App owners make good money on IOS, they may complain but better to make good money than none.

AppleInsider said:

Rumblings against Apple's sizable take from App Store revenues could have an impact on the company's stock, given the new focus on Services revenue, an analyst said on Friday.

"While the services segment grew 18 percent in the December quarter, we've now started to get investor questions worrying about whether the App Store will be the next shoe to drop," wrote AB Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi in a note seen by AppleInsider. Specifically, he cited a series of headlines indicating that Spotify and Netflix have stopped offering in-app subscriptions, and that others like Fortnite developer Epic Games have threatened similar actions.

Apple claims 30 percent from the majority of App Store transactions, which Spotify and others have complained can force them to hike prices or take a major financial hit. For some time Spotify charged $3 extra to in-app Premium subscribers, ultimately deciding to end the discrepancy and direct iPhone and iPad owners to its website.

Apple's revenue cut does shrink to 15 percent for subscriptions over a year long, but this doesn't seem to have appeased developers.

"Unsurprisingly, this 30 percent cut has transformed the App Store into the largest single driver of Apple Services, accounting for about 40 percent of all Services growth in the last three years by our estimates," Sacconaghi continued. "In recent years, however, discontent over this 'Apple tax' has been brewing among several major iOS app developers."

The analyst cited Netflix's action as the trigger for investor concerns. Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri has argued that Netflix represented "less than 0.3 percent of total services revenue" in 2018.

Sacconaghi also pointed out, however, that an ongoing U.S. case is weighing whether App Store practices constitute a monopoly. The App Store is the only place developers are normally allowed to sell iOS apps, and losing the case could break the company's revenue streams. Developers on macOS, Windows, and Android are free to use third-party storefronts or their own.

However, Sacconaghi doesn't seem to put any weight on any services that Apple will debut in the future, such as the expected video streaming service. Nor, does he seem to note that Services is more than the App Store, as Apple Music, AppleCare, and iCloud are all part of the revenue stream as well.

They can of course jail break if they choose. Also if you buy a TV or subscription to cable you can only download from their source. As long as there are options to buy another product all together and not to mention one that sells far more units for cheap, Android, Apple can not have a monopoly. Ironically, Apple’s 30% cut is far less than the 70% charged by carriers to access their networks before the App Store was introduced. How soon they for get. Companies like Netflix are swine. If they were not depending on Apple’s marketing, support, acceptance, ease of use and draw of its platform to grow their subscriber base they would not have activated subscriptions on the store in the first place. They wanted to use Apple’s ease of use and earned trust including their 300,000,000 credit cards on file for purchases thru their Apple ID. Netflix like Spotify would not have grown their paying subscribers as quickly if the customers had to enter their card info to yet another company. I personally won’t do it and don’t believe I’m alone in that. I think it also stems to the ease of canceling through Apple instead of direct. The other issue is marketing. They chose to use Apple because to market themselves was too costly, but they always had the option of signing them on their own site then having them download the app. It just that far fewer people were visiting their sight than searching on the App Store.