How is this dumb? For example, Lufthansa's app is free on the App Store, Apple makes nothing and Lufthansa reaps the benefits (otherwise Lufthansa would never bother to make the app). Why not force Lufthansa to pay Apple a portion of the plane ticket every time you check in with their app? The same goes for almost any other free app, most companies develop apps like Lufhansa's because they want to make more money, not less.
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Phil Schiller: Apple Will Not Change Decision on 'Hey' Email App, No App Store Rule Updates Imminent
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How is this dumb? For example, Lufthansa's app is free on the App Store, Apple makes nothing and Lufthansa reaps the benefits (otherwise Lufthansa would never bother to make the app). Why not force Lufthansa to pay Apple a portion of the plane ticket every time you check in with their app? The same goes for almost any other free app, most companies develop apps like Lufhansa's because they want to make more money, not less.
It's great that you see value in an app store and are willing to pay 43% extra for it. Not all of us do, and we don't even want to take that option away from you. We want to be treated like grownups and have the choice to buy straight from the developer at a lower cost -- and if that entails certain security risks, we are grownups and will take responsibility for our choices.
Im not following your point. When you price your product you do so with your costs in mind. In Hey’s case they need to factor in the 30% cut. If after your costs have been considered you are losing money either your product isn’t priced high enough or your costs are too high. You either need to increase your price or reduce your costs.
Like with any product you sell your costs will be different depending on where you are selling your product. You may be able to negotiate some of your costs and some of them may be fixed and non-negionable. You may not be able to reach an agreement with everyone so you may not be able to reach some customers.
Fastmail does not have a free tier.
Also, if this is an exception, why isn't it mentioned in the developer guidelines? How is anyone to know what is and isn't acceptable to Apple?
I read through that article and then the report from TechInsights. I find imore.com report to be misleading. I don't disagree with the $490 BOM costs for a $1450 retail phone. But to focus on that particular model is leading the reader to a prejudiced conclusion.
Here's why. The BOM cost for the flash memory is $11.50 for the 512GB (note - I'm assuming "memory - volatile" is the flash chip). Let's say the 64GB chip costs $8 on the BOM level. That puts the BOM cost $487 for a $1100 retail price, which is only 2.25x, not 3x.
I'm guessing the numbers for the 11 pro would be even less lucrative for Apple.
They did. Apple's rules say that reader apps (under which they include "access to professional databases", which very much sums up how an email service works) are able to operate the way that Hey set up their app. Netflix does it, Spotify does it, I believe there are even other email apps that do it. They developed their app over two years and had it approved by Apple. Then when they tried to fix some bugs, Apple "realised it had made a mistake" and decided that Hey doesn't fall under their vague definition of a reader app.
Now, to rectify the situation (that exists as a result of Apple's failure to clearly state their own rules) and work around this weird reader classification that was designed just to satisfy Netflix and Spotify, Hey must either eat a cost that they believed they wouldn't have to pay (and thus probably hadn't factored into their pricing) or raise prices on their customers just days after launching what is already a relatively expensive email service, not a good look for a new service.
this is a ****** argument. If developers wanted to make web apps for the iPhone they've been allowed to do that since day one. Go and see the WWDC 2007 keynote. What's been discussed here is developers selling their apps via an infrastructure that Apple has invested hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars into to allow consumers an easy and secure way to find and download apps. Not a single of one of these developers who are whining have taken the time to create an infrastructure of this scale. It isn't any different than when a retailer opens a store in a mall. No one gets a free ride.
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So the solution is for Apple to simply clear up and better define the developer guidelines?
The problem with people like you is you think the iPhone is and should be a Mac. It's been sandboxed since day one. Don't like it? Jailbreak it or buy an Android.
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And an outdated, dying service at that.
Seriously, who uses email as a primary mode of communication anymore? For $70/yr I can have Slack with unlimited free users (as long as they have access to one channel). It does everything email does + more. For those still needing to send to an email address, the email plugin works great. Zoom has similar features, as does Teams, Zoho, GtM...
'Hey' email for $99/yr? Pffft. go install it on your PowerPC, dinosaurs.
Going to propose to Cook & Schiller that AAPL institute a new "structure," based-upon whether AAPL does OR has done,
ANY Marketing for a particular app.
For example if AAPL has ever recommended a particular app, then AAPL gets their Agreed-upon cut.
However, if AAPL has NEVER recommended a particular app, then AAPL's cut should be ZERO !
This would be much more fair than the existing structure, in which AAPL clearly "plays Favorites".
ALSO, will propose to them that ANY App (with less than 1K Ratings) that has a Search Ad against it should get a cut of the Search Ad Revenue !
NOT Rocket Science, AAPL could very easily clean-up & improve the iOS App Store !
ANY Marketing for a particular app.
For example if AAPL has ever recommended a particular app, then AAPL gets their Agreed-upon cut.
However, if AAPL has NEVER recommended a particular app, then AAPL's cut should be ZERO !
This would be much more fair than the existing structure, in which AAPL clearly "plays Favorites".
ALSO, will propose to them that ANY App (with less than 1K Ratings) that has a Search Ad against it should get a cut of the Search Ad Revenue !
NOT Rocket Science, AAPL could very easily clean-up & improve the iOS App Store !
If Apple’s having such a hard time breaking even with their current pricing structure, they should change their pricing structure. They’re not a charity, and all it is is an excuse for them to act like free app developers are ingrates any time they ask for a fairer deal.
Most developers would be happy to pay at cost for the services offered to them or slightly above. (I can assure you that 30% is not “slightly above.”) Other than that, paid/IAP app developers shouldn’t have to subsidize free, ad-supported apps — if Apple views those as such a burden, start charging the developers.
Can I have American send my travel receipt to slack? Also lol at having everyone that wants to communicate with you download slack. That's the whole point of email and the open web, anyone can deliver an app that sends email.
If we want a closed internet, we should just all have iPhones and Slack and see how that works out 10 years from now.
It's less a solution than it is something they should have done from the start.
I think an actual solution would be to find a way to allow developers to pay to list an app in the App Store but not have to take the rest of the bundle Apple offers when they don't need it or it would harm their business more than help. They're clearly okay with it on some level because they added rules to allow it for certain apps, just make that something that other developers can opt into.
Or, just charge a flat rate for what they actually offer. If I sell one app for $1 and an identical one for $100, what more am I getting from Apple for the extra $29.70 they're taking from each sale? Are they doing a 100x better job of reviewing for compliance and helping me? Or are they just taking a big chunk because they know I can't afford to stop them.
The only iPad sold today which gets full editing access in Office is the iPad Mini. Of course iPhones are able to get free editing, but that's probably a small portion of iOS/iPadOS Office users.
You could have stopped before “in.”
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That’s a fantastic way to not just get your app removed but also get your Apple Developer account terminated.
It is really a crap shoot. I work for a massive company that is doing work in the health space. Due to COVID, we had to make some quick updates, and Apple was absolutely as horrible to work with as expected.
Before that, I had to send Apple a $500 device so that they could confirm that my app worked with my hardware, as expected. It was never returned. And due to logs, I can confirm that it was never even connected to the app for testing.
Before that, the company I worked for was buying Apple hardware and putting Linux on it (customers preferred the look of the mac mini over a similar Dell). Since Apple can't go after us for reselling their hardware, they stopped selling hardware to us. They also prevented 3rd party sellers from selling to us.
Apple is 100% a business that is against other businesses. There's nothing "evolving" about it, they've been like this for decades. Unless the EU goes after them or the US senate finds its teeth, I doubt that Apple will ever change.
Which makes Apple’s policy hostile to consumers by making them pay more, in cases where the developer decides that they need to charge more for IAP to offset the 30% cut.
And some services, especially those seeking to compete with other services which already have an established customer base, don’t even realistically have that option.
You know Apple doesn't process payments for the Hey app at all, right?
That's an interesting jpeg, but please identify on the chart where Microsoft, Netflix, and Spotify iOS apps would appear.
Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify apps would appear in the Apple App Store and google play store. iOS apps would appear in the Apple App Store and android apps would appear in the google play store.