"Literally 10 times higher than it should be": Elon Musk slams Apple's 30% App Store commission

Most tech enthusiast may be well aware of the fact that tech icon Elon Musk is not the biggest fan of Apple and some of its rather divisive business practices. The infamous 30% cut on App Store purchases that Apple takes from its developers, including the now-estranged game developer Epic Games, has once again garnered some harsh criticism from the South African business magnate.

In two rather short but concise posts on Twitter, Elon Musk today reiterated that "Apple’s store is like having a 30% tax on the Internet", which is "definitely not ok" in his opinion. More precisely, the Tesla CEO and wealthiest man in the world asserted that the commission on the App Store is "literally 10 times higher than it should be", indicating that he would consider a much lower 3% App Store fee to be more appropriate.

In a corresponding article, MacRumor noted that Apple only takes a 30% cut from developers who make more than US$1 million per year on the App Store, while smaller developers can benefit from the "Small Business Developer Program" and its lower 15% fee. In the past, Elon Musk has repeatedly criticized Apple's walled garden approach and its continuous efforts to lock customers into its highly-profitable ecosystem which revolves around iOS and iPadOS devices like the iPhone 13 and iPad Pro, neither of which allow the so-called sideloading of applications which could in theory bypass the controversial 30% AppStore fee.

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