What would Target do if their canned beans vendor started putting labels on the cans like "we sold this item for $0.23. Anything else is profit that your store is charging you."? Those cans would never see the shelves.
If, in effect, Apple buys a product from its vendor for $3.50 and then resells it for $5.00, keeping the difference as profit, I can understand their statement that the wholesale price is irrelevant and shouldn't be shown.
Arizona Iced Tea does this and they're very successful.
Also, I've never paid above 99 cents for Arizona. So it seems that worked as well.
It's very different than disclosing your revenue split on the packaging. Apple lets you set the price on your app store page. And no one will have to pay more. They would object if you mentioned your revenue split there.
>What would Target do if...
Again with the real-world mall/stores comparisons!
Does the beans vendor need to buy a machine from Target to manufacture the cans? Do they need to also pay a separate yearly fee to Target?