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Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

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Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#81

Post by mpweiher »

mjs wrote: post #67
supermatt wrote: post #30

The way this is worded makes no sense - surely it should be for the first $1,000,000? $1,000,000 = $150,000 $1,000,001 = >$300,000? It feels like a knee-jerk reaction to the ongoing complaints without much forethought other than an arbitrary change in the percentage below some round number.

There's no discontinuity in the first year you exceed $1m: that extra dollar is "taxed" at 30%, but the first $1m is at 15% ("the standard commission rate will apply for the remainder of the year"). Looks like the next year (after exceeding $1m) the first dollar will be taxed at 30%, though. They should just make this work like income tax: the first $1m is taxed at 15%, and everything above that is at 30%. (Same rule…

Maybe that makes it look a bit too much like the tax it is for comfort.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#82

Post by singemonkey »

varispeed wrote: post #49
jakozaur wrote: post #19

Great move! 30% is a case for antitrust given how big Apple App Store today is. 15% seems reasonable, 10% would be ideal. Though it should be 15% for everybody, no artificial caps. Moreover, I believe once you become a platform there should be an independent nano-courthouse where you can appeal. Today being rejected by Apple, Amazon, or Google platform is equivalent to the economical death penalty for many individual…

15% is almost like state level tax. They shouldn't ask more than 5% or they should take payment per app review and take no sales commission. The app store is what makes their iPhones useful, so in my view they should be paying developers to make apps not the other way around.

Tone can be hard to judge, so you should append the /s tag to make it clear you're joking, otherwise people are going to assume you mean it.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#83

Post by the_other »

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?

Surely this is true for all developers, at any size? And also just about any product, or service, in any industry?

As counterexamples: Apple sell Logic, yet it has numerous competitors, also all fairly successful: ProTools, Live, Cubase, Reaper, Ardour, FruityLoops. Apple give their customers Notes, Reminders and Mail for free, on all their devices (i.e. you don't even need to get hold of apps for these functions), and yet we also have Evernote, Notion, Airmail, Spark etc etc.

Does the App Store monopoly significantly change the nature of app competition? I'm not convinced, but I'm open to learning about it.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#84

Post by varispeed »

HatchedLake721 wrote: post #62
varispeed wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15% is still not fair.

And you calculated that how?

It's a level that state would take to take care for roads, healthcare, civil service, army and so on. There is no justification for such high % to maintain an app. They could charge per app review and maybe the data transfer fee no more than Amazon S3. Anything else is Apple abusing their monopoly. Developer can't submit their app to an alternative app store because Apple doesn't allow that and it must change.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#85

Post by saagarjha »

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.

But developers provide value to Apple and users as well, and of course already "pay" by writing software for the platform.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#86

Post by varispeed »

singemonkey wrote: post #82
varispeed wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15% is almost like state level tax. They shouldn't ask more than 5% or they should take payment per app review and take no sales commission. The app store is what makes their iPhones useful, so in my view they should be paying developers to make apps not the other way around.

Tone can be hard to judge, so you should append the /s tag to make it clear you're joking, otherwise people are going to assume you mean it.

What makes you think it is a joke? Happy to hear why you think 15% is reasonable.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#87

Post by HatchedLake721 »

varispeed wrote: post #84
HatchedLake721 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you calculated that how?

It's a level that state would take to take care for roads, healthcare, civil service, army and so on. There is no justification for such high % to maintain an app. They could charge per app review and maybe the data transfer fee no more than Amazon S3. Anything else is Apple abusing their monopoly. Developer can't submit their app to an alternative app store because Apple doesn't allow that and it must change.

> There is no justification for such high % to maintain an app

Again, you calculated that how?

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#89

Post by qw »

ccmcarey wrote: post #2

The headline seems to be: > New program reduces App Store commission to 15 percent for small businesses earning up to $1 million per year This is great and will really help smaller developers, 15% is much more of a palatable tax than the 30% they had previously.

It's interesting that they haven't made this discount automatic. Each developer has to apply for the discount. Seen from a PR point of view they support small developers, but they will profit from those who are not aware, or who don't sell enough to justify the time spent on applying for discounts.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#90

Post by madeofpalk »

HatchedLake721 wrote: post #58
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.

Except then the next year you get kicked out of the program and back to 30% on every dollar?
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