> Not paying Apple or Google a cut of every product sold via mobile was the revenue plan. If I pay Apple 30% of my profits every time someone orders something via my mobile app, that's a lot of money I can sink into a competing product before it becomes a net loss (assuming I get any traction at all).

I think the article discussed this mainly in the context of Kindle. It's only digital in app purchases that need to go through Apple's payment processing.