Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

pastebin.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 65 posts

Re: IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

#11

Post by dspillett »

joelackner wrote: post #5

does anyone know how the free app-a-day promotion is being handled? does amazon pay the developer 20% of the price for each free download?

If the app being free for a day is their choice then yes, they will pay 20% of the minimum list price in that period (as 0.2 x List will be more than 0.7 x Free).

If you dare give your app away for a day or allow another marketplace to do so, and sell your app via Amazon now or at any time in the future, you must permanently reduce your minimum list price at Amazon to $0.00 meaning that from this point they could give your app away for free as often as they like and give you nothing (0.2x0.00 == 0.7x0.00 == 0.00).

Essentially this means you can't give an exclusive offer to anyone other than Amazon, including via your own site if I'm understanding correctly, without also giving Amazon the option of the same offer (meaning is isn't much of an exclusive) and not just now: they have the option of running the offer when-ever and how often they like now and at any time in the future.

Re: IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

#12

Post by shareme »

Just wait folks..remember most device users have do one extra step to get these apps..if we pressure Amazon enough these terms will change..

In my own case I am going with:

1. Android Market 2. SlideMe 3 GetJar

..when Amazon changes the terms as it should be pricing only at their market pricing at other markets should not bear on pricing at theirs..its a anti-trust potential violation via the collusion implications of anti-trust law..

Re: IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

#13

Post by aristidb »

Amazon does however have an incentive to maximize revenue and there is a lower bound to what a developer gets (a percentage of the list price), even if Amazon promotes it for free, so Amazon loses money on that.

I think Amazon is better at optimizing pricing than most game developers are, so I expect this to improve revenue for both Amazon and the game developers. But only time will tell for sure. Panicking is not the right response.

Re: IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

#15

Post by msy »

Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.

Amazon, Apple et al are becoming new middle men of the digital marketplace. Want to sell content online? If you want mass market exposure we'll have 30-70% of the revenue from the sweat of your brow and you better thank us for the privilege.

I wonder how long until they band together and form a lobby group called the Digital Content Providers Association of America.

Re: IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

#17

Post by cooldeal »

msy wrote: post #15

Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss. Amazon, Apple et al are becoming new middle men of the digital marketplace. Want to sell content online? If you want mass market exposure we'll have 30-70% of the revenue from the sweat of your brow and you better thank us for the privilege. I wonder how long until they band together and form a lobby group called the Digital Content Providers Association of America.

With Android atleast you can sell the app from your website or any market. With iPhone apps there is no chance of that at all. (Cydia doesn't really count).

Re: IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

#19

Post by epoxyhockey »

shareme wrote: post #12

Just wait folks..remember most device users have do one extra step to get these apps..if we pressure Amazon enough these terms will change.. In my own case I am going with: 1. Android Market 2. SlideMe 3 GetJar ..when Amazon changes the terms as it should be pricing only at their market pricing at other markets should not bear on pricing at theirs..its a anti-trust potential violation via the collusion implications o…

Users having to go through all of the extra steps just to install and enable the Amazon app is enough reason for not publishing via Amazon's app store.

Also, users have to enable Amazon's 1-click mobile purchasing. A 2nd huge hurdle.

Re: IGDA about the Amazon Android Appstore: just say no.

#20

Post by _delirium »

aristidb wrote: post #13

Amazon does however have an incentive to maximize revenue and there is a lower bound to what a developer gets (a percentage of the list price), even if Amazon promotes it for free, so Amazon loses money on that. I think Amazon is better at optimizing pricing than most game developers are, so I expect this to improve revenue for both Amazon and the game developers. But only time will tell for sure. Panicking is not th…

I can believe that if Amazon were sticking to terms for its own market, but Amazon is attempting to prohibit anyone who sells through its market from simultaneously trying other pricing strategies in other channels. That seems more like a classic attempt at using market power in one channel to coerce behavior in other channels, rather than competing on the product's actual strength (unlike Google or even Apple).
Post reply on HN