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Apple Pays $100 Million to Settle Developer Lawsuit and Agrees to Multiple App Store Changes
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Isn't this exactly what Apple is doing, taking a cut for establishing a retail ecosystem? Are you saying that 15¢ on the dollar is unfair for helping you sell waffles on their front lawn?
While I think App Devs should abide by the terms of the App Store if they distribute via the App Store, they should be able to distribute their apps via methods outside the App Store and not follow those rules but Apple disallows that.
I mean is it Apple's lawn? Or the Users? They own the phone, shouldn't it be their choice and not Apples? More an argument to allow 3rd party stores on iOS than force Apple into terms they don't want for their App Store, however.
It's not been done because they care about the developer. It's been done because Apple is now facing much larger litigation battles with governments across the globe about its monopoly position in being the only provider of apps to its platform.
Now they can argue that revenue can be collected by third parties, so is 'open'. But Apple can still hope to retain stewardship of what gets loaded onto its devices by legitimate means.
I for one, will be quite happy not to see the ability to sideload apps onto iOS, which is something they could have been forced to do if it looked like a complete closed shop. (That could still happen, but in allowing others ways to collect the revenue, it's probably reduced the chances of that being the case).
In all eventuality, for the smaller developer apps, most people I suspect will keep to the convenience and security of the Apple payment system. The 15% 'cut' for app distribution, payment collection, and tax handling is not an unreasonable fee in my opinion. The winners here will be the few percent, high volume - high revenue app/service providers, for which customers switching payment method will be worthwhile.
Now they can argue that revenue can be collected by third parties, so is 'open'. But Apple can still hope to retain stewardship of what gets loaded onto its devices by legitimate means.
I for one, will be quite happy not to see the ability to sideload apps onto iOS, which is something they could have been forced to do if it looked like a complete closed shop. (That could still happen, but in allowing others ways to collect the revenue, it's probably reduced the chances of that being the case).
In all eventuality, for the smaller developer apps, most people I suspect will keep to the convenience and security of the Apple payment system. The 15% 'cut' for app distribution, payment collection, and tax handling is not an unreasonable fee in my opinion. The winners here will be the few percent, high volume - high revenue app/service providers, for which customers switching payment method will be worthwhile.
Well that's what I want to find out.
What would it cost me to provide all that myself?
Where do I even begin? RackSpace? Linode? What the hell is CentOS?
What e-commerce software do I install on the server? And how?
What's better? PayPal or Stripe?
I need a customer database... help!
Or... the App Store will provide me an all-in-one solution that covers app hosting, bandwidth, payment processing, tax collection around the world, ID management, etc. It's basically a turn-key solution for a small fee. I'll do that.
Is there a chance this will lead to Kindle allowing buying books in-app or is this not relevant?
Being somewhat flippant, it's brutal for every business owner that launches a new product; which is what an app is.
Not every app is for making money purposes. An open-source app or just free little utilities have no incentive to maintain development for MacOS or iOS versions of their product when they forced to pay $99 just to be able to sign the app.
And in addition this creates a grey area where a user is forced to go around the gatekeeper to install apps. Or developer forced to distribute app somewhere else or themselves and that opens them to a new level of vulnerabilities and subsequently creates danger for the end users.
I see often good *nix apps not willing to port to Mac just cause it’s a pain and too much of a hassle, plus costs money . The money that they will never see back, since it might be a side project or simple not for profit project OR they are helping another developer who doesn’t know MacOS and yet his or her user base would love to have it on the Apple ecosystem.
Was it easier to make a living as a software developer prior to the App Store? The cost of physical media, distributor costs, retailer costs, no free software tools, and still no guarantees…
I cant see where it says anything about external payments or popups being allowed inside the app. It says the dev can tell their customers about purchasing elsewhere via opt-in email.
IAP's or EAP's could simply be assigned to your signed in app profile same as Spotify.
Has your bill gone down by 15% on the second year for any subscription ?
Mine neither, you are paying that 30% regardless of the commission fee.
This has nothing to do with consumers who will always be paying top-dollar.
If Apple allows third party payment methods for IAPs, companies like Stripe for example for sure going to make an API to handle this. Since they support Apple Pay, the user will barely notice any difference compared to the built-in payment method. The problem is that Stripe's cut for example is only around 1-3%, but theres also a minimum fee of around 30 cents. So Apple actually charges less for microtransactions compared to Stripe. This only applies to the lowest tier prices though and there are some other solutions, like batching multiple transactions from one customer into a single charge, this could be handled by Stripe automatically.
Developers do not understand how retail works. Apple is more than fair by allowing developers to set their own prices. Developers know this fee in advance, much like the cost of insurance and business property tax, so they can factor it into their price. What could be more fair?
To sell at retail you have to find a retailer to sell your product and then they set the sales price. A store like Walmart might even tell you the price they will pay you for your product.
Like what seems to be everything in the last few years a small group of losers and misfits get to dictate outcomes. I know of no consumers who have ever cared about App Store policies.
Consumers are always the losers with lawyers get involved.
To sell at retail you have to find a retailer to sell your product and then they set the sales price. A store like Walmart might even tell you the price they will pay you for your product.
Like what seems to be everything in the last few years a small group of losers and misfits get to dictate outcomes. I know of no consumers who have ever cared about App Store policies.
Consumers are always the losers with lawyers get involved.
Yeah I got my wires crossed. I misunderstood something someone said and then extrapolated.
But it would be cool if the developer could tell the user inside the app, right?
I mean... what if someone installs your app and goes ahead and pays for it in-app before you get a chance to tell them about your website via email?
Or maybe that's what Apple wants?
Good point — concern over someone pirating your app in the App Store is close to zero."Don't copy that floppy!"
The problem with this analogy is that with iOS apps, i'm forced to use Apple as the retailer. Theres no alternative, or i can't setup my own webshop to sell my apps for example. As a developer I don't mind this personally, just wanted to point out the issue with your reasoning.
In case some people don’t know, it’s incredibly difficult to start any business and succeed. Failure is a bigger possibility than success and the entry point is several order of magnitudes than a computer and $99.
Apple is really genius. It gave nothing but scraps to the developers as part of the deal and it came out as the company which really listens to their complaints. Wow!
If a purchase is made via the app store as a direct result of any of Apples services (App Store search or IAP) Apple deserves every cent of commission for that sale.
I sure as hell dont think that it would be cool if the developer could tell the user inside the app. I think thats a lazy-ass free ride on Apples coat-tails.
However
If you have a freemium app and are sending out newsletters to customers telling them about your premium service that they can sign up for on your website. Thats fair game
If someone finds your website and app due to all the time and money you put into marketing, signs up for your premium subscription via that website and THEN downloads the app via the app store where I then enter my credentials. Thats also fair game.
Marketing is expensive, and IAP's are the most convenient and I'd guess, highest converting form of impulse sales ever invented.
