I simply don't believe that. He's either playing word games about the technical definition of "profit", or he's outright lying.
Given Apple's recent behaviour with respect to the EU ruling on alternative market places, I'm thinking it's more likely a combination of the two.
If you don't know the cost to operate, then you can't calculate profit, only revenue.
I don't think that even Hollywood accounting could make the app store seem unprofitable.
Companies are not required to nickel and dime consumers for every offering, and often time goodwill generates more revenue as a whole than squeezing every penny.
In most cases consumers are driven away by being squeezed at every turn.
The only reason this works for the App Store is that the size of apple’s hand in the cookie jar is obscured from users.
It's a lot harder to discover something incriminating, intentional or not, if you don't have a record.
If something is important enough, someone will be explicitly tasked with it.
