Hi. Thanks for the fair criticism of the API. As for fixed prices per locale, we had this model earlier in the API but it became too hard to manage and it was even harder to work with mobile carrier billing in so many different regions. The price points really should not vary much in practice and will not be tied to the US dollar. Payout will be available in Euros, for example.

Also, the price points listed on the MDN page you linked to are not final (as the page mentions). Many price points are missing and we will add micro payment price points. As for 30% commission this is not final either. Our goal with introducing multiple payment providers is to bring the commission costs down as providers compete.

The article is mainly intended to get developers interested and familiar with the API so they can work with Mozilla in the open to help improve it.