So, the key is to make sure no one finds your app unless they are already a paying customer.
I see a burgeoning new field: "reverse SEO" for SaaS mobile apps.
Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
51–60 of 108 posts
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#52I think they need to just offer a "iPhone connectivity" option for extra $$$. Then they need to offer that and only that via the appstore in app purchase on the phone.
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#53Apple is notorious for ripping businesses built on their platforms out from under the people that created them. It has happened with OS X by them taking a popular 3rd party utility/app and integrating the idea/look/feel directly with no attribution. It has happened with iOS, and now it is just coming to a point where Apple is flat out saying that if you make money on our platform, regardless if the value is outside o…
This sounds a bit hyperbolic. The company that is notorious for doing this is Microsoft.
[Citation needed]
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#54As I added in the content section, I think that SaaS providers have the leeway to pass along the "Apple tax" to iOS users and thus embarrass Apple a little bit here. I'd like to see a service at least try to make an "iOS plan" - if a service is normally $10/mo, create a separate plan (that would be the only way of accessing the content for iOS users) that costs enough to offset Apple's take. This plan would cost the…
What about Apple's rule that the in app subscription needs to be the same or better than available elsewhere?
You could just offer them both in both places. It would be an interesting to see the conversion rates in both environments.
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#55affecting companies like Amazon, and companies like SalesForce that have made a significant investment iOS investment, one has to wonder whether building iPhone apps is safe
This. iOS remains, by the numbers, one of the worst places for freelance developers to spend their time. Profits are diminutive in the average case, and app store policies impose additional risks that have forced entire shops to leave the iOS ecosystem or change how they do business inside it.
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about Apple's rule that the in app subscription needs to be the same or better than available elsewhere?
You could just offer them both in both places. It would be an interesting to see the conversion rates in both environments.
This plan relies on consumers being dumb enough to choose a plan with identical access, but a higher price.
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. But how can one oppose new methods of the closed, proprietary system that generates revenue, when the open alternative doesn't?
That's not what is happening here. My company makes all of its money from subscription services that we sell directly to customers. Now if we provide a IOS app to access that content, we risk losing 30% of our revenue if the user happens to sign up via the app instead of via our website. I'm not sure what "open alternative" you are referring to. My website -- built on "open" everything, other than the subscription co…
> My company makes all of its money from subscription services that we sell directly to customers.
Then don't sell on the iOS stores. Simple solution. Unless you now want to complain about all the 70% revenue that you will be missing.
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
It has happened with OS X by them taking a popular 3rd party utility/app and integrating the idea/look/feel directly with no attribution Citation?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karelia_Watson
This seems to be someone making an OSX version of Apple's already existing Sherlock program? I'm not really sure how Sherlock 3 was copying Watson, since it was pretty clearly an evolution of Sherlock 2.
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#59As I added in the content section, I think that SaaS providers have the leeway to pass along the "Apple tax" to iOS users and thus embarrass Apple a little bit here. I'd like to see a service at least try to make an "iOS plan" - if a service is normally $10/mo, create a separate plan (that would be the only way of accessing the content for iOS users) that costs enough to offset Apple's take. This plan would cost the…
That's an interesting way to get around Apple. I wonder if it will hold. You're basically saying that if you want iOS accessibility, you pay 43% more. So maybe WSJ has a newspaper version, a newspaper plus digital (including android, any non iOS device), and then a newspaper plus digital plus iOS plan.
Wonder if there's also another way to get around it, maybe by just jacking up the rate 43% everywhere to please Apple, but maybe giving some other type of promotion (loyalty points, coupons, free stuff) for people that don't use iOS. Maybe you could give 3 months free or something as a credit for anyone who doesn't use iOS?
Given the level of detail Apple has provided, it sounds like either option could work.
Edit: changed 30% to 43%
Re: Apple is actually asking for 100% of SaaS mobile revenue
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
>And as far as I read the release, SaaS is not concerned. Unless you're using Apples subscription mechanism, you're not offering a subscription in-app. So if you simply use a web API, that's not a subscription. That's the point that you're missing. If you offer subscriptions or purchases out-of-app for use by the app, You are REQUIRED to offer subscriptions or purchases in-app as well for the same price and minus App…
I never even entertained the idea somebody would consider SaaS "content". The thing also lists explicitly what they consider content. There's no "etc." Yes, you can probably bend it to mean anything, but as is, this really doesn't seem to include SaaS.
"this really doesn't seem to include SaaS"
Today, it doesn't, but based on Apple's ever expanding scope, that's not a bet I'm willing to make. We're sticking to HTML5 web apps and making sure they run on Android browsers as well.