Apple App Store
Cashing in Stage 3
For users the App Store is a real surplus: easy installs, refunds, and review that keeps most malware out. For developers it is a toll gate: a cut of up to 30%, rules against pointing users to cheaper prices elsewhere, and a 27% fee on outside purchases that a court found in contempt of an order to open up. Users pay that toll indirectly through higher prices. Stage 3.
- Since
- 2008
- Function
- Devices & stores
- VC-backed
- No
- Public
- Since 1980 (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Rating checklist
The stage follows from these criteria under the published method. Extraction and decline count only with a dated source from the last 3 years.
- Alignment 0 of 3
- None
- Lock-in 1 of 4
-
- L4 Gatekeeper or default
- Extraction 2 of 7
-
- E3 Squeezing the other side May 6, 2026
- E6 Self-dealing Jun 30, 2026
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result: Two or more extraction criteria, or lock-in plus at least one, so stage 3.
News signals
More in Devices & stores
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Google Play
3Android's default store: more open than Apple's, but forced to cut fees only by court order, and tightening control over sideloaded apps.
-
HP Printers
3Printers sold cheap and recovered through ink: firmware that blocks third-party cartridges and subscription ink that stops working when you cancel.
-
Ring
3Amazon's doorbell cameras: convenient security that needs a subscription for recordings, and an ongoing push to turn neighborhood footage into a surveillance network.
-
Sonos
3Premium multi-room speakers whose 2024 app rewrite broke features owners had paid for; years later the company is still cutting staff and rebuilding trust.
