Ph33nix said:
virtual books cost just as much and most text books are not online because alot of professors (atleast in my experience) use the books that they wrote. also being an apple app developer sucks they really mistreat those guys. I looked into getting the software in order to develop for apple because it looked like a good way to make some extra cash and keep my skills sharp but you are lucky to break even making those apps with in the first 3 years. Apple wants you to buy their software pay a annual fee for them putting "your product" on their servers and then they want a cut of everything you make and they take a big cut.
My friend is co-founder of an LLC developing apps for the iPhone and iPad. Because his brother is working on the new "Transformers: War for Cybertron" game, he gets the development app free of charge. A lot of developers in big name companies work in an environment already where Apple provides the program in hopes of creative material.
Apple cuts 30% of all sales. If your price is $9.99, they cut 30% of that. Also, if your application has good ratings, they'll feature it randomly at no extra charge which rakes in more sales. I wouldn't say that they are mistreated. Especially when I hear that the annual fee for the program is only $40. Not to mention, the program to develop pretty much gives you step-by-step instructions to make sure "what you want" is done correctly and smoothly. I wouldn't say Apple isn't greedy, but they certainly aren't assholes. They want things added to their tiny world. It's why the iPhone generates 20% of the entire cell phone market across the globe.
