A Crack Opens in the Foundation of the App Store Economy (2)

When Apple Inc. introduced its App Store in 2008, the company’s founder and chief executive Steve Jobs had a message for iPhone app developers. “We are not trying to be business partners,” he told the New York Times. Jobs meant that developers didn’t have to feel threatened because Apple’s main business was selling phones, not taking 30% commissions on app sales. But the comment could be interpreted very differently today, when many developers—and government officials—see Apple less as a partner negotiating in good faith than as a feudal lord levying an unavoidable tax.

On Sept. 10 a federal judge ...