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Foundry
Ternus and services chief Eddy Cue want to make even more money from the App Store and figure out ways to raise margins and squeeze additional recurring revenue from the platform. Schiller, on the other hand, seems to believe that such moves will only further irk developers and governments. While there was no internal blowup or anything like that, it’s something he wanted no part of.
It would be ironic if, after years of developers dragging Schiller for App Store woes, he turned out to be the one keeping it from being even worse all along. (If this turns out to be the case, in lieu of sending Phil a nice fruit basket, developers can just send donations to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.)
But you have to wonder who Gurman’s sources are here. It’s not like Schiller called him and said, “Mark, it is time I told you the dark secret about the App Store! Do you have a pen? Because I’ll be naming names. First off… CUE. That’s with a ‘C,’ not a ‘Q’.” Certainly no one close to these executives spoke to Gurman. So who else would be in a position to know (or think they know) and be willing to talk out of school? Certainly a former Apple employee might be willing, which makes it possible that the sound you hear is the grinding of some axes.
No, not that sound. That sound is your CD of “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” by The Spin Doctors that fell behind the credenza in 1998 and landed in front of the air vent and has been rattling ever since. This is more of a GEEENEEERRRRRTTTT noise. Yeah, that’s the one.
Let’s just be clear that the Macalope really hopes Gurman is wrong about this. Apple has already been blinkered enough on the issue, and the idea of it doubling down and raising its take or worsening terms for developers really boggles the imagination. Maybe this represents attitudes Ternus and Cue no longer have; maybe cooler heads will still prevail.
