Spencer314

MisterKit said:

So could a developer have a free app-store app gutted of any real useful features, direct the user to a developer's site to basically sell them what makes the app become the app, and sidestep any fees from Apple, all the while using Apple's platform to distribute their app?

It certainly looks like it. And apparently Apple can't even demand that the developer make clear that Apple isn't doing the payment clearing to ensure there is no cheating. If this is the case, as it appears to be, the previous rulings in Apple's favor are essentially meaningless, and Apple's application services revenue model has been essentially blown to smithereens and then had the blown up bits run through an atomizer, and the resulting atoms then dumped into a black hole. They were certainly overcharging, as Apple does with most things, but the protected Apple App ecosystem is (was?) itself a good thing for the most part, even if Apple had taken it to an extreme. 

Where exactly do things go from here?