Regarding the 30% cut: iTunes gift cards are often available at a 15-20% discount, further reducing Apple&#x27;s cut. That doesn&#x27;t help the developer, but is an implicit marketing cost Apple is eating. Suppose the buyer used a 20% discounted gift card and is buying through an affiliate link, Apple operates at around 3% for that sale while the developer still gets 70% from the full price ... and most likely, the retail channel wants a cut from selling the gift cards as well.