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Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

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Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#51

Post by Closi »

jamil7 wrote: post #32
user-the-name wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really isn't a problem in practice, unless you are going out of your way to try to bend the rules set in place, especially about sales.

It can be a problem in practise since the rules aren't fairly or consistently enforced. Look to recent issues with iSH being approved and rejected. Edit: as others have pointed out iSH isn't the best example of this.

iSH is definitely in the “pushing the boundaries of the rules” area of apps (x86 emulation) and probably shouldn’t have been allowed if you took a strict interpretation of the rules.

OP is just saying 99% of apps being developed are clearly within the rules, rather than really pushing against the boundaries of what is allowed.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#52

Post by gtsteve »

user-the-name wrote: post #24
gtsteve wrote: post #21

Looks nice but it doesn't solve my fundamental problem: 1. I invest loads of time and effort developing an app 2. Apple rejects it -or- 2. Apple approves it 3. I ship a new update 4. Apple rejects the update and now decides my app should have been rejected retroactively. I'm especially concerned about what happened to Hey and others but my customers are demanding smartphone apps and there are still limits to what can…

This really isn't a problem in practice, unless you are going out of your way to try to bend the rules set in place, especially about sales.

Unless you're competing with something Apple is planning to bring out (parental control apps before screen time stats, etc).

I don't think I'm competing with Apple at all today, but who knows what they're planning for their next features?

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#53

Post by varispeed »

gtsteve wrote: post #21

Looks nice but it doesn't solve my fundamental problem: 1. I invest loads of time and effort developing an app 2. Apple rejects it -or- 2. Apple approves it 3. I ship a new update 4. Apple rejects the update and now decides my app should have been rejected retroactively. I'm especially concerned about what happened to Hey and others but my customers are demanding smartphone apps and there are still limits to what can…

There is another problem - you cannot create your own app store or use alternative one if Apple for some reason does not accept your app. There is essentially no competition and at least the EU should step in and force Apple to open it to other app stores.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#54

Post by onion2k »

adanto6840 wrote: post #26

Wonder how this will be handled for apps that are shipped on the app store via a 3rd party publisher. The publisher probably does >$1M across all the apps they publish, but each app / developer is likely far under that. If there are no exceptions, it would mean that 3rd-party publishers lose tons of their value proposition.

If Apple want to push big publishers off the app store because they have the resources to fight for changes in court this would be a subtle way to do it..

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#55

Post by andysinclair »

gtsteve wrote: post #21

Looks nice but it doesn't solve my fundamental problem: 1. I invest loads of time and effort developing an app 2. Apple rejects it -or- 2. Apple approves it 3. I ship a new update 4. Apple rejects the update and now decides my app should have been rejected retroactively. I'm especially concerned about what happened to Hey and others but my customers are demanding smartphone apps and there are still limits to what can…

This is not aimed at solving your problem, this is aimed at helping us small developers build a more sustainable business on the App Store.

We will ultimately build more apps and invest more time in supporting and improving our current apps.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#56

Post by q3k »

lilyball wrote: post #50
q3k wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should developers also pay for this, when end users already do? Apple is double dipping like a world-class monopolist (see: ISPs who charge both peers and customers).

Apple provides value to both end-users and developers. It does not seem unreasonable to charge them both. And if Apple did not charge developers, that would suggest they’d have to raise prices on end-users to make up the difference, which does not seem fair to the users.

If that is the case, are we going to see device price hikes after this cut decrease?

Apple can afford to not make 15%/30% off of developers. They are just greedy for short-term profit, as any publicly traded company is. The only reason this cut happened is because they started getting threatened with lawsuits, so they had to slightly slow down their free money printer.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#57

Post by varispeed »

gtsteve wrote: post #52
user-the-name wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really isn't a problem in practice, unless you are going out of your way to try to bend the rules set in place, especially about sales.

Unless you're competing with something Apple is planning to bring out (parental control apps before screen time stats, etc). I don't think I'm competing with Apple at all today, but who knows what they're planning for their next features?

Exactly, nothing stops them to pull "Amazon", that is once they see your app is successful, they could request all data they need and either buy it off the company that developed it for you or commission their own app based on the documentation you had to provide and then block you. There is currently nothing you could do about it.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#58

Post by HatchedLake721 »

karolkozub wrote: post #47

Wow. That's amazing. That's a 20% increase in revenue for those eligible. I'm guessing they decided the increased value of their products from more smaller developers creating apps for the platform is greater than the lost revenue. If I understand correctly though, since it's a hard cutoff it creates this gap between 1m and ~1.2m where you're actually worse off by making more money pre-tax. 999k --[-15%]--> 849k 1000…

It's progressive. You pay 15% on first million you make. 30% on amount thereafter.

EDIT: It looks like I am wrong, ignore me.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#59

Post by Arkhaine_kupo »

emerongi wrote: post #37
Nullabillity wrote: post #16

The correct amount is still 0%, from anyone.

Agreed. Delivery drivers don't take a percentage from every sale you make. They charge for the service. App stores should charge for their service. They aren't making the sales (at least in most cases). They are delivering assets. Charge for the delivery. I know somebody will start claiming that Apple created the market in the first place. Apple benefits from the large app selection just as much as the developers do…

They are charging for the manual work of checking apps, making sure your app exists in a fair market place and its not surronded by fake, malware infested nightmares.

Whether this is worth 30% is arguable, but they are not charging for the delivery, they are charging for keeping the garden trimmed.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#60

Post by varispeed »

breakfastduck wrote: post #31
saagarjha wrote: post #4

This is good for smaller developers, but it doesn't really seem to solve the actual problem? All the people who are willing to go to war with Apple and have teeth are making way more than that…

Yes but many of the larger players who are willing to go to war use the 'its not fair on smaller developers' argument against them. This really slaps down the ability to use that.

15% is still not fair.
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