It is quite a leap to assume it runs break even. I know Apple's people like to say it does, but numbers can be manipuated and I trust Apple is smart enough to optimize over the years to give themselves a small but healthy profit.
Let's say 300 million? That would still mean that iTunes costs a billiom to run for a year.
Saying that iTunes is run a bit over break even – which Apple did during their conference calls – while making something like 300 million is very likely illegal and not something Apple would do.
Apple are making money hand over fist overall. First of all, it would be astonishingly idiotic of them to break the law for such relatively little potential gain.
Secondly, it wouldn't make any sense of them to nickel and dime customers for such a tiny little part of their overall business. This is peanuts to them.
The AppStore's purpose is not to bring in a relatively tiny bit of profit to Apple, it purpose is providing reasons for developers to invest in their ecosystem, and for customers to buy their hardware, where their real money comes from.
In the filings, Apple (Cupertino, Calif.) acknowledged that the company faked documentation to indicate that a grant of 7.5 million options to CEO Steve Jobs was recorded at a special meeting of the board of directors on Oct. 19, 2001. Such a meeting, Apple said, did not occur.
Those stories are all about one incident many years ago. Posting several articles about the same thing doesn't turn it into a trend. And since that scandal, Apple has been fastidious about obeying the letter of the law. Sarbanes-Oxley is practically Apple's religion.
I was merely responding to the statement that 'illegal things are not something Apple would do' that was stated in a matter-of-fact manner.
>And since that scandal, Apple has been fastidious about obeying the letter of the law
And you would know this how? Just because there's nothing revealed right now doesn't mean there is nothing that is going on and might be revealed later. Of course this cuts both ways and I am certainly not implying that something shady is going on, but I am just curious about the free pass given to Apple on here on various things that other companies don't get.
