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It would be interesting if app stores worked like retail stores. Developers sell apps to the store at their desired price, and the app store sells it to a customer, usually with an added markup of 30%. If Amazon wants to sell a popular app as a loss leader Walmart style, they are free to do that without screwing the developer.

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That would leave app makers susceptible to a major player with large amounts of capital that can sell at a loss until all other players are driven from the market and then raise its prices once it has gained pricing power.

Book publishers appear to have wizened to Amazon's game here and have refused to allow Amazon to use discounts to drive other sellers out of business. Many publishers have moved to an agency model where Amazon takes 30% and the publishers set the retail price of the books.

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