Are you reading this on your iPod? Do you love all your cheap apps and marvellous media? If so spare a thought for those who produce the content for your fondle slab that discovering that Apple want to take their cut (a triple tithe of 30%) at every opportunity.
Software developers signing up with Apple know they will take 30% of whatever they make, music artists know that iTunes will receive a bigger slice of their download revenue than most of them with their 30% but now newspapers and subscription based services are reacting angrily to the news that Apple want them to offer subscriptions through their iOS application thus offering Apple their 30% share. In particular music and media app like Spotify and Last.fm are warning that 30% will guarantee they will make a loss on their services.
Only a market leader like Apple would risk such a strategy and even know it may backfire on them. Consumers may love their fondle slabs but if they want businesses to contribute content for it then they have to give them a compelling reason to do so before their rivals offer more lucrative terms.
For those joining us on the search term tithe just remember to 'Render unto Steve Jobs the things that are Steve Jobs' (a slight paraphrase of Matthew 22:21). For those who think that giving a church 10% is bad, Facebook and Google want all your personal data and Apple merely want 30% of your lives (but maybe not your wives).
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