You could, however, give as much of the product away as you can for free (less $100 a year for developer account) and then Apple is basically paying you to distribute it on their platform. That's definitely not the mafia.
If you want to charge money, Apple will collect it for you and take a cut. If you don't want that deal, you can still distribute your app for free, you just can't charge money for it in the app. You can still charge money for the service, but you have to do that on your own website and infrastructure (a la Netflix, etc.), not Apple's.
I'm not up to date on Apple's current rules, but for years they have strictly forbidden you from directing users to your website to complete a purchase. You weren't even allowed to mention any other payment options in the app.
> If you want to charge money, Apple will collect it for you and take a cut. If you don't want that deal, you can still distribute your app for free, you just can't charge money for it in the app
Basically, you can't make money. Duh. You can't even place a link for a third-party payment system (the case to allow that is on its way to SCOTUS).
Worse, you can't make money and you have to pay the $100 developer fee every year. The developer fee is trivial if it's a business expensive, but quite expensive otherwise!
"They want money from my app when I want money from their store! Therefore I'm a victim and they're a mafia."
Seems to me you're not noticing the Kremlin levels of cognitive dissonance in your statement here. With this severe lack of self-awareness, if you were in Apple's place you'd be way worse than they are right now.
Yes, they are a mafia. And yes, they want 30% of the gross income, just like other mafias (that historically has been the mafia cut in New Jersey and New York).
> They want money from my app when I want money from their store!
Apple is a mafia because they want money that they do not earn. They didn't do anything that deserves 30% of gross to help me write my application, and they are not promoting it for free.
All they do is they provide a shitty autoupdate service.
> Seems to me you're not noticing the Kremlin levels of cognitive dissonance in your statement here.
You realize that free apps still have to pass all the Apple rules in order to get in the store right? If they disagree with anything about your app, then you're blocked. I think that's a good thing for consumers (or at least it would be if they allowed sideloading for people who don't want to be controlled) but that doesn't change the reality that as a developer, Apple is the mafia.
If you want to charge money, Apple will collect it for you and take a cut. If you don't want that deal, you can still distribute your app for free, you just can't charge money for it in the app. You can still charge money for the service, but you have to do that on your own website and infrastructure (a la Netflix, etc.), not Apple's.