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Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

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Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#251

Post by _ph_ »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #231
hansvm wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the developer isn't providing upgrades then they shouldn't keep getting paid for a product someone already bought. If the argument is that developers need _regular_ pay days then we have dedicated financial instruments for smoothing an irregular cash flow. In any case, subscriptions aren't directly equivalent to upgrade pricing even when an upgrade is provided every subscription period because in an upgrade pricin…

If the argument is that developers need _regular_ pay days then we have dedicated financial instruments for smoothing an irregular cash flow. I think that ignores how little most developers make in the app store. They aren't rolling in money, most are just trying to figure out a way to eke out a living.

I think developers would make a ton more of money, if the App store didn't suck so badly. My spending on iOS apps has rather gone down over time, because the App universe got increasingly worse.

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#252

Post by tsbinz »

valuearb wrote: post #187
kalleboo wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a developer, Apple is heavily, heavily pushing us to adopt subscriptions, even for apps where it makes no sense. We get contacted by developer relations folks several times a year, they even dragged us to a seminar to espouse the joys of subscriptions. We do a camera app. All we want is clearly-marked trial versions (not "free apps with in-app purchases", users think that's bait-and-switch and give you 1 star revi…

Subscriptions always make sense because it aligns developers costs with customer usage. Small developers were dying trying to support apps forever on one time purchases. Subscriptions enable developers to be compensated for maintaining and upgrading their apps. Trial versions are a bad user experience. Upgrade pricing would be nice, but fir most apps isn’t really necessary since subscriptions solve the same problem i…

How on earth are trial versions bad user experience? My #1 wish when I browse an app store would be to look for apps (especially games) that offer trial versions. I don't want to try games that shove ads down your throat or monetize through in-app purchases, I won't pay for a subscription for some mobile game I just play to pass time waiting for something, but I'd like to try the game before I pay for it since lots of games I tried were a lot less fun than I thought from the store page. Trial versions would be perfect.

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#253

Post by _ph_ »

electricviolet wrote: post #98
p1necone wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the way Jetbrains does it is ideal - every chunk of 12 months you pay for with your subscription gives you permanent use of that version.

But this only works if you're releasing a new version every subscription period -- and in that case, it's equivalent to upgrade pricing.

Yes, most models converge in the case of frequent updates by the developer and regular usage by the customer and the customer upgrading regularly. The difference is, that when there are no regular updates, why should a developer get constantly paid? And sometimes, there are huge updates, which are not really reflected in value by a reasonable subscription. On the other side, the subscription model holds the customer hostage, the customer cannot decide to use an older version a bit longer and update later.

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#254

Post by _ph_ »

unix_fan wrote: post #16
mod50ack wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit sad. I feel like mobile gaming is in large part dead because of these stupid pay-to-play games. Back in the early days of the iPhone, even the iPhone games were one-time $2 games (and good for that!), while you had the DS where games were $20+ (often more). Now mobile games of quality are mostly dead.

unfortunately, the market isn’t willing to pay for high-quality games.

Only because the market has been killed by freemium games. Look how the Nintendo Switch is a huge game platform, where you basically only get full-paid games without in-app purchases.

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#255

Post by _ph_ »

znpy wrote: post #55

So the author has felt mistreated for a number of years, filler a form for a number of years and nothing changed? All I can think of is the following quote: «Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results».

If a goal is worthy, one should keep persue it. It often takes preserverance to achieve an abitiuos goal. Don't let people win, just because they are stalling the discussion.

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#256

Post by cancerSpreads »

brokencode wrote: post #163
cancerSpreads wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No surprise here. Apple and Nintendo are cut from the same cloth. Big marketing budget, medium quality product, high price. I do my part in capitalism by purchasing products that are quality.

Both companies are famous for the high quality of their products, but are also often criticized by some due to the specs of their hardware for the price. Is that what you mean by “medium quality”? Because the easily quantifiable specs of a device are usually a very poor indicator of quality, and quality is much more nuanced in reality. For instance, the Xbox has always had higher specs than same generation Nintendo d…

"critically acclaimed exclusives."

Marketing

BOTW wasn't even an 8/10

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#257

Post by scarface74 »

zadokshi wrote: post #238
scarface74 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. Why isn’t anti trust going after a company that is less than 50% of the market.....

Not sure why they would need to have more than 50% to be facing anti-trust issues, but it doesn't matter, Apple is already at 50% of the market. https://www.investopedia.com/news/apple-global-smartphone-ma...

Even so, 50% is hardly a monopoly and consumers have plenty of other viable, cheaper options.

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#258

Post by scarface74 »

icebraining wrote: post #233
scarface74 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thought experiment: Let’s day that Apple banned an app by both Black Lives Matter and “Focus on the Family” and they both complained about it to the government. Which one do you think the government would be more likely to force Apple to carry? It continues to amaze me that anyone wants the sane government more involved in technology whose leader wants to “shut down Twitter” and wants all of the data it can get to sp…

In English, the government doesn't necessarily mean the executive. If Congress passed a law stating how platforms must treat the developers, them one could sue Apple to enforce it.

Congress only comes up with broad guidelines. The actual implementation of laws are done via departments like the FTC, FDA, FCC etc. (of course I am just giving examples). Those committees are run by unelected officials. If someone wanted to get those laws enforced they would go before unelected judges with lifetime appointments - again chosen by the executive branch. The Justice Department is also suppose to be independent, but again is heavily swayed by the executive branch.

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#259

Post by chiefsucker »

andrekandre wrote: post #31
MintelIE wrote: post #20

I have simply stopped buying "apps" even though I am still an iOS user. Quite a few of my purchases have just disappeared over time. I moved to a newer device and they couldn't be installed. I'm not happy with Apple and I got rid of my modern Macs (still have 1/2 dozen SE/30s) completely, now I use Debian or OpenBSD. Apple is extremely tight lipped on what they're doing and where they're going, they will support and…

yes... all this churn, and what do we get for it, we can loose our old apps, customers can get upset, devs large and small look for shortcuts because thier investment (obj-c, appkit, uikit, swift 1 - 4, 32-bit, etc etc) is obsoleted... it just reduces the number of viable apps... isnt the whole point of apis that they abstract the machine/os underneath so we dont have churn so much? i know windows isnt the best thing…

Apple wouldn’t be Apple if they wouldn’t abandon old technologies in favor of newer ones.

This actually splits developer mindset into two camps: those who love the introduction of new stuff and deem it necessary to achieve progress, and those who accuse Apple of planning obsolescence into their products, and deprecating technologies too early (it’s a little bit hard too believe when you compare Android to iOS, but Linux or Windows vs. macOS tells a different story).

Re: Every year I fill out this survey from Apple, for Apple developers

#260

Post by andrekandre »

chiefsucker wrote: post #259
andrekandre wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes... all this churn, and what do we get for it, we can loose our old apps, customers can get upset, devs large and small look for shortcuts because thier investment (obj-c, appkit, uikit, swift 1 - 4, 32-bit, etc etc) is obsoleted... it just reduces the number of viable apps... isnt the whole point of apis that they abstract the machine/os underneath so we dont have churn so much? i know windows isnt the best thing…

Apple wouldn’t be Apple if they wouldn’t abandon old technologies in favor of newer ones. This actually splits developer mindset into two camps: those who love the introduction of new stuff and deem it necessary to achieve progress, and those who accuse Apple of planning obsolescence into their products, and deprecating technologies too early (it’s a little bit hard too believe when you compare Android to iOS, but Li…

thats true, but at some point it goes so far it becomes an anti-pattern

apple, like any other company of thier size, can continue to move forward and drop old technologies while at the same time keeping older apps working; its eimply a matter of will and policy

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