Does Apple care about indie developers? Here are a few things to think about.
"Approximately $1.34 billion of the estimated $1.43 billion in net revenue generated by the [U.S. App] store during Q1 [2016] went to 623 publishers, the remaining 6 percent—approximately $85.8 million—was divided among the other 61,677 publishers whose apps are paid or feature in-app purchases."
Randy Nelson
"These are among the best apps on the platform, from [indie] developers who have been loyal to Apple and the Mac for decades. The Mac App Store is rotting, at least for productivity software. There’s no other way to put it. If this hasn’t set off alarm bells within Apple, something is very wrong."
John Gruber
"The App Store is big business, and that's how big business works…even if Apple gave indie developers everything they wanted, it wouldn't matter much over the long term…the app economy and apps themselves are evolving…times have changed and we, all of us, have to change with them."
Rene Ritchie
"There are strategies for making a living, and nobody’s entitled to anything. But it’s also true that the economics of a thing may be generally favorable or generally unfavorable — and the iOS App Store is, to understate the case, generally unfavorable. Indies don’t have a fighting chance."
Brent Simmons