> Consoles ship at a hardware loss, iPhones don't.
This isn't true anymore. Consoles don't follow the razor-and-blades business model anymore -- that's long since gone.
Sometimes they don't make a profit at launch, but they do soon after in the hardware cycle, which is fine because they sell for years and years. Nor are things like extra controllers or headsets subsidized either.
So the idea that consoles need to make up losses via a cut of game sales isn't true, and hasn't been true for at least a couple of decades.
And so there's no good reason to treat them differently from smartphone app stores.
(The idea comes from the 80's and 90's, back when it was widely understood to be the business model.)
It's true. Name me an iPhone model that shipped at a hardware loss, then name me a modern console that hit shelves making a profit. You can't; iPhones don't ship at a loss. Not on day one, not on day one-hundred, not ever. It's not necessarily a knock against Apple's business model, but it is a fact of the modern market; iPhone hardware margins are extreme. They do not correlate with the profit margins of modern consoles, even later-on in their lifespan.
Despite being someone who wants consoles to be a more open platform, it's trivial to see why they have an argument and Apple doesn't. Apple is a hardware company using their de-facto software control to bolster profits and prevent competition. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are essentially software companies, selling DRM-enabled clients to ensure their continued profitability. It's up to the court to make a ruling, but I have a hard time believing consoles are any more relevant than Blu-Ray players or Nespresso machines.
This isn't true anymore. Consoles don't follow the razor-and-blades business model anymore -- that's long since gone.
Sometimes they don't make a profit at launch, but they do soon after in the hardware cycle, which is fine because they sell for years and years. Nor are things like extra controllers or headsets subsidized either.
So the idea that consoles need to make up losses via a cut of game sales isn't true, and hasn't been true for at least a couple of decades.
And so there's no good reason to treat them differently from smartphone app stores.
(The idea comes from the 80's and 90's, back when it was widely understood to be the business model.)