Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
Before I bought my Ipad in December, I had never purchased anything from Amazon or B&N. Since that time, I have bought nine or ten ebooks from them. Not a red cent has gone to Apple, despite the fact that the purchases were made through the Ipad, for use on the Ipad, by means of apps hosted by Apple.
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A very red cent has gone to Apple, quite a few red cents in fact: the money that
you paid to Apple to buy an iPad from them.
In the case of apps on Apple's servers, sure, they can charge for the use of their servers if they want. But just because a purchase is made through the iPad (you paid for the iPad, right? and you're paying for your airtime?) and for use on the iPad (I drive a Honda, but Honda doesn't get a cut of what I spend on gas and car washes) doesn't give Apple any stake in it.
The manufacturer of my computer (well, that would be me, so I guess the manufacturers of the various components) don't get payments from Amazon whenever I buy a book there. I ordered some shampoo this afternoon, but the Vermont Country Store has no obligation to give any percentage of my payment to Microsoft, even though the computer uses their OS, nor to the Mozilla Foundation, despite the order being submitted through Firefox. Why should an iPad be any different? When I buy books from Baen to put on my Sony 505, Baen doesn't send Sony a check. You can check with Tim Myers, but I don't think he's had to shell out to Sony, either, despite how many of his books I've bought through Smashwords.
Frankly, anyone who thinks that the manufacturer of a platform is entitled to a cut of all business transacted on that platform should really take a good, close look at themselves and question whether they're being objective here. It doesn't happen with other things. Sandisk gets no money from anyone for the MP3s I put on my Sansa. GE doesn't get any share of the food I cook on my stove. If I buy a house, I'll pay a set amount, not a percentage of every dollar I earn. Whoever made my bookcases isn't entitled to a part of the purchase price of the books filling them. Why should Apple -- whom you've paid once already! -- insist that you (though the seller) pay them
again to use the hardware you bought from them? You paid them once already!