The congressional antitrust hearing opening day yesterday on the big tech four was fascinating.

And the commentary by everyone has been spot on: yes, the big four (Apple, FB, Amazon & Google) under investigation plus Microsoft (not on the radar this time) are really useful technologies but there’s a lot of evidence that they stifle innovation thru anti-competitive behaviour.

Apple provides a much-loved service hosting its curated App Store that nevertheless charges developers a 30% cut.

When Tim Cooke was asked what would stop them increasing it to 50% he didn’t really answer the question, saying ‘of course they wouldn’t do that: it’s been 30% since day one’.

But here’s the follow up question I would have like to ask. If there really was completion in App Stores (eg between Android & iPhone) then why is the commission STILL at the arbitrary 30%. In a competitive market that wasn’t arbitrary it should at least occasionally move down, or even up as costs change.

But it doesn’t.

An analyst quoted on CNN’s First Move noted the AppStore costs about a 10% commission or less.

How to tackle that, given that the iPhone AppStore has been an otherwise fantastic platform (compared to early Android messes), is up for debate.