The fiasco gets worse and worse:

As if having to worry whether or not your apps could start disappearing isn’t enough, there is another layer of complexity to deal with if a paid app is removed: the users. Sure, if a live app is removed, users will likely be upset no matter what happens… but if they’ve paid for it, and they can’t get future upgrades or bug fixes, some of them are going to be wanting their money back. As some developers have already discovered, refunds can get expensive if there are enough of them, because Apple retains its 30% commission, while the developer has to reimburse the full cost of the application to cover the refund — meaning each refund on an app that is priced $9.99 ends up costing the developer the full $9.99, rather than the $7 in revenue that they actually made from the purchase.

Apple needs to handle this soon. The discussion is getting heated, and the backlash is already starting. This deserves a Steve Jobs open letter; it’s gotten that bad.

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