It was a chain of their own decisions that got them here.
But yes, it is hard to imagine a way for the App Store to exist in its current form if the ruling stands. If you can use an outside payment provider taking a 3-5% cut, nobody is going to use Apple directly and pay 15/30%.
What are some of the options? No 1st-party App Store? Dramatically increased annual dev fee? Devs pay a per-GB fee for customer downloads of “free” apps?
The same options that exist on macOS. Use the App Store and the benefits it gives you if they're worth it for you, or distribute and install apps from elsewhere if that's what you want.
To be clear: I’m not Tim Cook, I don’t work at Apple, and I’ll play no role in any decision that is made. I also have no inside information.
It’s hard to believe that the annual developer fee plus the revenue from the small minority of devs for which paying the Apple commission makes sense will cover the cost of running the App Store.
I don’t think you will get that choice. The App Store either goes away (for non-Apple software) or the cost structure changes such that it doesn’t matter who your payment provider is.
The macOS App Store is still around despite having competition, so I see that as a point against the iOS one going away if there is competition.
But even if it does, the profitability of Apple's business is Apple's problem. If their iOS store is only profitable through anti consumer (I can't install my own software on my own device) and anti competitive measures (you must give apple a 30% cut off all sales and they have veto power over your app at any point) then perhaps it shouldn't exist in it's current form.
But yes, it is hard to imagine a way for the App Store to exist in its current form if the ruling stands. If you can use an outside payment provider taking a 3-5% cut, nobody is going to use Apple directly and pay 15/30%.
What are some of the options? No 1st-party App Store? Dramatically increased annual dev fee? Devs pay a per-GB fee for customer downloads of “free” apps?