This might be a dumb question but I have not find the answer when googling it. I think the answer is "no" but like to have it confirmed. I know Apple gets a share for each App sold in the App Store. But are they earning when the App is for free?
To make the question more clear. Suppose I develop a iPhone App and want to distribute that app gratis (for free) through the Apple App Store. So I wonder whether Apple charges me something for each downloaded App?
They don't charge you per app downloaded.
They get their share of money by you paying the $/£xx developer license each year & having to purchase the appropriate hardware to develop and test on ;)
No, Apple does not charge to distribute free apps.
You do still need to pay for a developer account, but after that there is no charge for free apps.
As others have already said, no, Apple does not charge you apart from the fee for the Developer Account.
They are making their money through the 30% share they keep for selling the paid apps. The free apps do not make immediate money for them but are still valuable for Apple as they make the App Store more attractive (do you like to go to a shop that has only few goods in the window ?). This keeps the users check out the App Store more frequently than it would with only paid apps, and sometimes they also buy something even though they didn't visit the App Store with that intention.
They only take money if you make money through a user purchasing your app. If they buy a free app, they take 30% of nothing. So you can make money through an Ad supported app without having Apple take a cut (But this makes it feel/look cluttered and annoying).