1/ I’m not weighing in on the growing controversy about the complex rules applied to developers in @Apple’s App Store. Just based on what I’ve read, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple is forced to change some of them. But I want to make three points that people seem to forget.

2/ First, in free markets, any merchant is free to receive a fee or share of the price of the goods it distributes to consumers. This is not a “tax”. You’re free to think 30% is too much to sell your app on a phone with about a 10% global share, but it’s not a “tax”.

3/ Second, there’s a history to this. Before the App Store, carriers controlled which apps would make it onto phones, and often took most of the revenue - 50%, 70%, more. I was there when Steve Jobs announced Apple would take only 30% and a room full of developers cheered.

4/ third, even if some of the rules are judged illegal or unfair, I personally value Apple’s tight control of third party app distribution as a guard against most malware and a protection of privacy. I favor curation.