iOS Does an unused iOS developer subscription cost Apple anything to sell to me?

[glossywhite]

Does an iOS subscription cost Apple anything to sell to me?

The reason I ask is because I bought a subscription about 2 years ago, and never made any apps at all, let alone ones which were submitted to Apple OR sold! I feel like I am £60 down and have nothing to show for it.

I know it is not a giant amount of cash, and please, don't focus on the £60 amount, but I just have this feeling that Apple got cash out of me for nothing, because I never even used the account OR made profit from it. It is not Apples' fault of course, but I merely want to know if it costs them £60 to run my developer account, if I make no apps at all?

I would like insight - insight which is focused on the thread title.

Many thanks guys.

 

[robbieduncan]

Administration of accounts, even unused, costs something. How much only Apple can tell you. But I am confused as to what the issue is: you chose to pay for something you then chose not to use. It's no different to you buying an apple from the supermarket then choosing not to eat it before it rots and being upset that you are ~27p out.

 

[glossywhite]

Administration of accounts, even unused, costs something. How much only Apple can tell you. But I am confused as to what the issue is: you chose to pay for something you then chose not to use. It's no different to you buying an apple from the supermarket then choosing not to eat it before it rots and being upset that you are ~27p out.

I have my own reasons for the enquiry, suffice to say I needed to ask the Q. I presume the "administration" of my account is nothing more than a cron job running on some server, and therefore its' "cost" is mere cpu cycles. I agree that the initial setup of the account cost *something* however.

You have answered my questions, thanks.

 

[robbieduncan]

I have my own reasons for the enquiry, suffice to say I needed to ask the Q. I presume the "administration" of my account is nothing more than a cron job running on some server, and therefore its' "cost" is mere cpu cycles. I agree that the initial setup of the account cost *something* however.

You have answered my questions, thanks.

They (Apple) probably also have to maintain records for tax purposes (even though yours will show all 0s) and a few other things. Again the cost is all CPU and disk but for business these things can be remarkably expensive when you consider live-live contingency and daily backups being mandated by law to be stored for a number of years.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Whether there is a cost to Apple or not, your decision to buy and not use was entirely up to you. If you feel like they "got" something out of you then it is way not by way of any trickery on their part. To all of robbie's points, it likely costs Apple something, whether it is what you paid is unknown and a seemingly moot point.

 

[sammich]

Probably also to provide a minimal wall so not everyone can get access to the full developer suite. That is, things like pre-release software/betas, prevent the developer forums getting too much junk on them, some part to cover costs of maintaining the developer tools, paying the people who work constantly reviewing apps (yes you didn't send apps in for approval, but most of these things work on the law of averages).

And the things mentioned above.

 

[glossywhite]

Whether there is a cost to Apple or not, your decision to buy and not use was entirely up to you. If you feel like they "got" something out of you then it is way not by way of any trickery on their part. To all of robbie's points, it likely costs Apple something, whether it is what you paid is unknown and a seemingly moot point.

I didn't say trickery, did I?

The point is not moot, else I'd not have asked it.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I didn't say trickery, did I?

The point is not moot, else I'd not have asked it.

No you did not use the word "trickery". You said, " but I just have this feeling that Apple got cash out of me for nothing." As the reader I interpret "got" as a relaxed way of saying that Apple somehow managed to weasel £60 out of you, for nothing. When I use the word "got" in such a way I am indeed speaking as though I feel cheated in some way. For example, the company who recently did work on my house got me for an extra $300 because they promised something they simply cannot deliver on. By saying "got" I am indeed implying that I feel cheated in some fashion.

So no, you did not say "trickery" you said "got" and got used the way you did tells me that you feel cheated. Coupled with the rest of your post, I believe you feel somewhat cheated as though Apple did nothing for your money and you have nothing to show for it. You're smart enough to understand this, I'm fairly confident of that.

And the point is moot because you paid your money and you're not getting it back. If you're looking to justify the cost somehow then fine, but the fact is, you paid and didn't use it. That is no one else's fault, which I believe you also know because it was stated.

 

[xUKHCx]

Closed at the request of the OP.