Do you think developers who cannot pay $99 for their developer account add much value to the AppStore? Seriously, if you are clever enough to create an app that is even remotely worth being on the app store, you are clever enough to find $99.
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Apple Cracking Down on Sites Selling Access to iOS 6 Developer Betas
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Do you think developers who cannot pay $99 for their developer account add much value to the AppStore? Seriously, if you are clever enough to create an app that is even remotely worth being on the app store, you are clever enough to find $99.
The accounts are priced based on the various tools and materials you get, not just the iOS betas. And for most it is a tax write off as a business expense
Completely. If you think about how much it costs to buy a Mac and iOS device to start programming having to pay $99 is almost nothing in terms of a business expense. As Gnasher says if you cannot afford $99 then you have bigger issues.
Remember you can join as a free user develop your product and only pay the $99 when you want to get access to the beta releases or if you want to sell on the app store. If you are worried about making your $99 dollars back in sales I humbly submit that you should be more worried about making the $1000+ you spent on the Mac and iOS device(s).
Edwin
Exactly. There is already so much crud in the App Store, I shudder to think what it would be like if Apple made it even easier/cheaper to sell.
So you want Apple to pull a Microsoft and launch a product before it is ready and fully tested? Just wait like everybody else. All of the features of iOS6 are not even turned on yet.
The 30% commission and fees are reasonable, but I don't see why you should have to pay extra to get iOS 6 before it is actually released. Plenty of other companies give out free beta products.
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The problem is that Apple's restrictions on apps are too tight. You can't make any app plugins. If I want to make an "app" (not actually an app) that adds something to the Messages App, that is not allowed. The apps are also very isolated data-wise. It's impossible to make a texting app.
It's called quality control. Microsoft would be in a lot better shape and not so desperate right now if they used it. Not sure if you realize..but the future of Microsoft's consumer division totally lies in the success of Windows 8...that's a huge risk! Their stock has been flat since 2001.
Apple's products work because they keep tight control on their brand..this is a good corporate concept used by millions of companies.
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The problem is that Apple's restrictions on apps are too tight. You can't make any app plugins. If I want to make an "app" (not actually an app) that adds something to the Messages App, that is not allowed. The apps are also very isolated data-wise. It's impossible to make a texting app.[/QUOTE]
Apple's products work because they keep tight control on their brand..this is a good corporate concept used by millions of companies.
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The problem is that Apple's restrictions on apps are too tight. You can't make any app plugins. If I want to make an "app" (not actually an app) that adds something to the Messages App, that is not allowed. The apps are also very isolated data-wise. It's impossible to make a texting app.[/QUOTE]
I think the reason apple does not let everyone beta test compared to say msft is because apple users just are not that computer savvy. Apple users just expect things to work and when they dont it means head in to the genius bar to get my problem fixed (which is great I wish msft system worked this way). While this does not apply to most users on this forum I believe it’s a key reason for most users.
I have an idea to deal with the illegal downloads!
Brick all the phones that have illegal installs of ios6 on them and suspend all the developer accounts that distributed. =)
I have an idea to deal with the illegal downloads!
Brick all the phones that have illegal installs of ios6 on them and suspend all the developer accounts that distributed. =)
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Completely. If you think about how much it costs to buy a Mac and iOS device to start programming having to pay $99 is almost nothing in terms of a business expense. As Gnasher says if you cannot afford $99 then you have bigger issues.
Remember you can join as a free user develop your product and only pay the $99 when you want to get access to the beta releases or if you want to sell on the app store. If you are worried about making your $99 dollars back in sales I humbly submit that you should be more worried about making the $1000+ you spent on the Mac and iOS device(s).
Edwin
Yup.
Lot of people around here (with big mouths) have no idea on how to run a business.
Yea, let us think about this...
... I don't run iOS 6 because I am not a Dev. I thought about it, but I curently don't have a Mac, so it's pointless. Now what are the pros? Cool features others don't have access to, yet. Wow. What are the costs? Possible crashes, a phone tunring into a brick. Now, you could say " Risks are known, open it for all!" For Apple this would be bad for several reasons: People seeing a Beta phone and not understanding much of it think that Apple iOS is just full of flaws. Also, someone coulld sue Apple (and they are already busy fighting other giants) because they let someone put software on their phone which then didn't allow the user to call 9-1-1 because it crashed. Trust me, in the USA, you will find that. Lets exagurate: People will drown their spouses and blame it on the phone not being able to call 9-1-1 (I'm thinking about the kind of people who sue McDonnalds for selling "too hot" coffee knowing that McDonnalds is known for brewing "extra hot" to achieve a better taste).
... I don't run iOS 6 because I am not a Dev. I thought about it, but I curently don't have a Mac, so it's pointless. Now what are the pros? Cool features others don't have access to, yet. Wow. What are the costs? Possible crashes, a phone tunring into a brick. Now, you could say " Risks are known, open it for all!" For Apple this would be bad for several reasons: People seeing a Beta phone and not understanding much of it think that Apple iOS is just full of flaws. Also, someone coulld sue Apple (and they are already busy fighting other giants) because they let someone put software on their phone which then didn't allow the user to call 9-1-1 because it crashed. Trust me, in the USA, you will find that. Lets exagurate: People will drown their spouses and blame it on the phone not being able to call 9-1-1 (I'm thinking about the kind of people who sue McDonnalds for selling "too hot" coffee knowing that McDonnalds is known for brewing "extra hot" to achieve a better taste).
Oh my god! You really have no idea about Mac users. Where I work, all the software developers have been switching over to Macs for their personal computers. I'm not saying "they are switching", it has happened a long time ago.
The reason why you don't get public betas with Apple is that Microsoft uses public betas to produce excitement for their products (doesn't work with Windows 8 though
), while Apple ships betas to developers so they can fix problems with their apps, implement new features and find bugs in the software. Bug reports from gazillions of non-professional users, no matter how "computer-savvy", do not actually produce any useful input, because most people cannot describe a problem in such a way that it helps a developer reproducing and fixing it.With lots of people just waiting for an opportunity to create malware for Macs and iPhones, the times where you could do such a thing - and could get it published on a semi-official app store are over (until death penalty is introduced for malicious hackers plus anyone involved in their business). See this link as an example: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/09/android_trustgo_china_mobile/
And it doesn't stop there: I worked as professional Beta-Tester for a while. You can't even imagine how bad beta testers can be - and they are the professionals. I mean, some of us knew how to program simple things and we understood the principles etc. Some other ones didn't have more to say than: "It crashed at 9:36AM and I send you the video and memory read-out." Yea, thanks, keep your memory readout. That is just Hex stacks. What did you do to get there where it crashed? 2 min video might not cut it because it wasn't the last thing you did causing all the crash... Sometimes, it is just terribad. Also, you want to be able to reproduce bugs to not count an overheated GPU as a software issue just because your PC is full of dust.
What's that's supposed to mean? The you mean waiving $99 fee wouldn't make any developers top 10? Yeah so what?
Your zest and others here like you to defend the most obscenely rich company on the globe continuing to leach off their developers who are the ones with their fees that support apple's code efforts is pitiable. If you are not an apple stock holder you are a major, major victim.
Free apps shouldn't be hosted for 5 years for $500 dollars. Apple can afford to host free apps, well free. Apple shouldn't also be making about 30 million dollars per year by virtue of having people pay a developers fee to them. They are writing a bunch of code for xcode and maintaining their platform, they should pay for that themselves. They are already getting 30% per sale, that's more than enough. In addition their devices wouldn't sell like crazy if it weren't for the developers. They are adding all the important value for their platform. I shouldn't be paying $500 for having them host my free app for 5 years. How hard is for you and people like you to get this?
Congratulate yourselves for being victims here standing up for the big guy becoming even more obscenely rich and bigger.
As a developer for a long time, I recall when Apple charged $499 for OS X ADC membership, and up for different tiers (this also included discounts and WWDC tickets in some cases). When iOS was released, Apple began the $99 price point.
I strongly believe this was a decision to entice non-developers who would like to use the beta software for many reasons. Many people don't mind throwing down $99 for early releases, it may also entice non-developers to enter the developer world and whether people report bugs iOS devices still send data to Apple on such things as energy logging and statistics.
Apple gets the $99 fee no matter, and opens the system to lots of individuals. This model was such a success Apple followed by doing the same for OS X Lion. We were stunned when Apple lowered OS X membership to $99 from the hundreds they charged previously.
I strongly believe this was a decision to entice non-developers who would like to use the beta software for many reasons. Many people don't mind throwing down $99 for early releases, it may also entice non-developers to enter the developer world and whether people report bugs iOS devices still send data to Apple on such things as energy logging and statistics.
Apple gets the $99 fee no matter, and opens the system to lots of individuals. This model was such a success Apple followed by doing the same for OS X Lion. We were stunned when Apple lowered OS X membership to $99 from the hundreds they charged previously.
A few people around here know damn well how to run a business, that's why they can see through to what apple is doing, having developers fund apple's xcode development via more than 30-40 mil a year based on the fee system, AND fund the app store and make a profit for apple for it via the 30% system, AND at the same time help apple push a few millions of ios devices based on the added value of the apps. And all that when the marketplace is a race to the bottom in terms of prices and the competition is fierce.
It's exactly because some people have run businesses that they can see through what apple is doing and find it unacceptable.
I ll say it again.
The fees should be minimal, $10 a year (even at that price they will be making about 4 million a year) I am not funding apple developing xcode and ios, they should do it themselves, store infrastructure as well as profit is AMPLE for them via the 30% cut alone, they don't need a fee for someone developing and hosting free apps, that puts value to their devices.
Anyone can disagree all they want here, since when what apple was doing could be criticized without having the minions feeling compelled to defend them? Never.
Google and ms can make technology to have private communications with god himself, and there still be people here saying yeah, well what about privacy and windows viruses, I am sure it's not that great talking to good and having google spy on you....
But god forbid if you take apple to task...
If developers dont care about the $99 fee why do you?
I hope you noticed developers are by & large the ones defending the $99 fee; it keeps out the riffraff - though not enough for my liking.
I am. So wahoo!
Why?
Apple can afford to do a lot of things. Not sure where you got your $30 million figure from, but assuming its legit its also gross. Tally up the cost of servers, bandwidth, insurance, employees, etc then subtract to get net.
Unless the app is free. Paradox.
I think the iPod disproves that. Hundred of millions sold and not a single App before 2007. But you are correct the App store ecosystem is very large driver of iOS adoption, but its not like developers are releasing Apps as a favor to Apple we want to make money in one way or another, there is no market as widespread as the App store.
Why is your app free? Why do you value your work so little?
Theres a charity that creates a device to clean well water, they distribute it third world countries. Their first attempt they gave the device away for free and found it was cannibalized to repair other machines in the town. Their second attempt they charged money for it, even though they didnt need to, the machine became coveted and other machines were cannibalized to keep it running. Moral of the story, cost creates value; the $99 fee covers costs for Apple, but also makes being a developer a deliberate action, not just some service you give away your email address to. $99 requires a level of commitment. Beyond that its rather simple economics, supply and demand. Apple charges $99 because they can.
Like I said this years $99 investment has already nabbed me a $75,000, even my Apple stock doesnt have that kind of ROI.
I don't believe in spoon-feeding whiners/trolls - try your luck on duckduckgo. As you were "among the original iOS paid developers" I would have thought you should know the answer in any case.
Bollocks. For a hobby, $100 per year is sweet f-a.
Your other points are just ludicrous.
Honestly most app developers (including myself) believe there should be a fee per app as well.
It is rather hard to get a new app noticed without buying downloads or being a mega corp.
The reason it is so hard to get noticed even with a decent app is because of people spamming the app store. If you do a search on anything and scroll down a bit there are horribly built apps that are just scams, copies or look/work like crap. When you release a new app your app goes below this sht and its pretty hard to get noticed 10 pages down.
I am in no way saying my apps are the best but I can honestly say they at least do what is in the description and I have put some effort into design although I am not a designer.
$100 and 30% is nothing to sell and be hosted on their market. Do you have any idea how much a dev license costs for a "real gaming system"? Do you know what cut programmers get from creating a retail program that might be sold in walmart or bestbuy (hint its a lot less than 70%)
Do you realize you can do no marketing/promoting whatsoever and because of the app stores wide audience make a six figure income by yourself?
It is rather hard to get a new app noticed without buying downloads or being a mega corp.
The reason it is so hard to get noticed even with a decent app is because of people spamming the app store. If you do a search on anything and scroll down a bit there are horribly built apps that are just scams, copies or look/work like crap. When you release a new app your app goes below this sht and its pretty hard to get noticed 10 pages down.
I am in no way saying my apps are the best but I can honestly say they at least do what is in the description and I have put some effort into design although I am not a designer.
$100 and 30% is nothing to sell and be hosted on their market. Do you have any idea how much a dev license costs for a "real gaming system"? Do you know what cut programmers get from creating a retail program that might be sold in walmart or bestbuy (hint its a lot less than 70%)
Do you realize you can do no marketing/promoting whatsoever and because of the app stores wide audience make a six figure income by yourself?
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It is not a rip off for an actual developer. The price is what it is for this exact reason. They don't intend this as a public beta test.
See sll the stupid feedback from non developers and you know why apple finally had enough. It is not intended for end users to try out the os early. It is intended for app developers to create apps and update apps to work with the new version. Nothing else.
You are mistaken. Simply offering a good app in the app store will never guarantee you success. Just like any business that exists today, YOU are in charge of marketing/promotion!!! If you honestly believe that your chances of making a six figure income (which by the way is a relatively small income for any gaming software company that would consider calling itself successful) would increase by simply increasing the developer fee, your wrong!! You can build the best software/widget but if you can't market it properly your SOL. Chances of accidentally making a small income of six figures or decent seven figure income without a proper marketing campaign are about the same as winning the lottery!
Good luck!!!
So you think that only clever and super-genius people can write that programs; and even more that people have lots of money. LoL come to real world please. Most of developers are not professional guys/girls working in a company or own a company that creates applications. They just do it in their own room of house with just having fun to do it. There are lots of little App's that created by people; so you think all of them are clever enough to create them but silly about making them free?
Programming is not about money, it is about passion. So if you don't know about it, please don't criticize it too.
Completely. If you think about how much it costs to buy a Mac and iOS device to start programming having to pay $99 is almost nothing in terms of a business expense. As Gnasher says if you cannot afford $99 then you have bigger issues.
Remember you can join as a free user develop your product and only pay the $99 when you want to get access to the beta releases or if you want to sell on the app store. If you are worried about making your $99 dollars back in sales I humbly submit that you should be more worried about making the $1000+ you spent on the Mac and iOS device(s).
Edwin
So you say that all hardware from Apple costs more then thousand dollars. It is funny because seems like you never heard second hand hardware. I bought my MBA for 600$ which is also not my money; my dads gift for birthday. Apple says that i am giving out XCode in App Store for free but i get cash when you want to put an App you created on my Store at beginning and cut a percentage if you sell it with cash. Only be happy if you give out it for free then.
You think all developers works in big companies and building with unlimited cash. It is not the real world buddy, sorry about it. You can buy a book about Objective C for just 5$ and create small to mid size App's with that. It does not make you clever, just trying new things about programming.
And of all of those non-professional developers, what percentage of them actually are able to make something that is truly worth downloading? Based on what I have seen in the App Store, probably less than 1%.
On the whole, the App Store would be much better off if only serious and/or professional developers were allowed to submit apps, and not every schmuck who has ever managed to cobble together a pointless one view app from an online tutorial and thought they could get rich. The $99 fee is the least Apple can do to keep the store from becoming a complete pile of trash.