Benchmark’s Bill Gurley said Tuesday that Apple set itself up for trouble years ago when it implemented its 30% take rate of in-app purchases, a figure that’s been under increased scrutiny.
“I’d always rather see a company have a lower rake and have a very long sustainable future, and I felt the 30% number was so high and so egregious that you were going to set yourself up for the exact type difficulty you’re having right now,” Gurley, who led the firm’s investments in companies like GrubHub and Zillow, said in interview on CNBC’s TechCheck.
Apple has for years taken 30% from purchases of software or digital goods from apps distributed through the App Store. But developers have alleged that Apple’s App Store platform is unfair to smaller companies, and last year Apple lowered the commission to 15% for apps with less than $1 million in annual net sales on its platform. Most recently, Epic Games sued Apple and argued in court that the company’s App Store is anti-competitive.
Apple has denied the allegations and has said it “does not have a dominant market share in any category where we do business.” In response to the suit, Apple is arguing that it built the
