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Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

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Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#431

Post by TheKarateKid »

kmeisthax wrote: post #300
wokwokwok wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they can convince regulators they will self-regulate... while continuing to get a third of the revenue from all the most lucrative developers. So what? Seriously, who cares if Epic earns 14 bzillionty dollars this month, or 20 bzillionty dollars? At that scale, the 30% is such a terrible thorn in your side? Come on. Cry me a damn river. The 'narrative' here is Epic pretending they care about anyone except themselve…

Provide an officially-sanctioned way to install alternative software sources. macOS has that; Apple will even certify third party developers so that the system can still validate software outside of the Mac App Store. That kind of security model would be perfect for iOS and would moot pretty much all the substantive parts of Epic's complaint.

> Apple will even certify third party developers so that the system can still validate software outside of the Mac App Store. That kind of security model would be perfect for iOS and would moot pretty much all the substantive parts of Epic's complaint.

That's a really good point. Why isn't the dev community talking about getting Apple to do this on iOS?

It would allow sideloading while maintaining security, and a somewhat more fair amount of control from Apple.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#432

Post by whywhywhywhy »

enos_feedler wrote: post #418
danShumway wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This news doesn't mean people shouldn't continue to put pressure on Apple and legislators to address the core issue (app store competition), but it's still really good news for small developers. It should also solidly put down all of the arguments we were seeing about whether indie devs and lawsuits putting pressure on Apple and legislators are at all worthwhile. A drop in app fees by 15% is a substantial win, and th…

Solidly? Not really. Still believe the Epic and Apple fight is all about Tim Sweeney being a greedy business man. Zero proof this 15% reduction has anything to do with pressure from that legal battle. Apple has made rev share changes in the past unprovoked (like 15% for sustained subs). How long do you think this change was in the works for? If this change was a response that’s great. But I would bet in that case App…

>is all about Tim Sweeney being a greedy business man

Tim Sweeney provides one of the most advanced game engine technologies in the world completely for free for all revenue under 1 million. After 1 million you pay 5% on revenue over that, if your game makes $1,200,000 you pay Tim Sweeney $10,000.

If you make 2 games and both games equally make 600K you pay Sweeney nothing.

It's definitely a business but not sure "greedy" describes this.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#433

Post by elcomet »

The pricing seems very bad as it suffers from threshold effects after you go over 1M$ for over a year:

If you earn slightly over 1M at year 1, (being taxed 15% on most of your profits), then you will be taxed 30% for all of year 2, even if you fall under the 1M. So you have a big incentive to keep under 1M a year if you don't plan on a big revenue increase the year after.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#434

Post by kmeisthax »

macinjosh wrote: post #320
kmeisthax wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Provide an officially-sanctioned way to install alternative software sources. macOS has that; Apple will even certify third party developers so that the system can still validate software outside of the Mac App Store. That kind of security model would be perfect for iOS and would moot pretty much all the substantive parts of Epic's complaint.

Just because it is something YOU want doesn't mean we ALL want it. I appreciate Apple's review of apps and their store policies. While no human endeavor is perfect it is at least an attempt to keep their platform more secure, safer for kids, higher quality, and more trustworthy. Opening up the platform to other app stores means they have less control over the experience on their platform it opens more avenues for mal…

Why are Apple users so quick to recommend me Android when I point out this particular flaw with iOS? And yes, I do consider distrusting the owner's software installation preferences to be a flaw, especially when Apple is certainly capable of maintaining a robust and safe third-party distribution ecosystem on macOS. The Mac isn't demonstrably less secure because you have a sanctioned way to install Steam onto it. Likewise, Apple doesn't lose the ability to maintain the quality of the Mac App Store because people might get their apps on Steam.

"Safer for kids" isn't a factor here; Apple already provides tools for parents to lock down their children's devices should that be necessary. This would also presumably have an option (or default) to disable third-party apps, in the same way parents can already disable specific App Store and built-in apps.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#436

Post by ecf »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #248
NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to it seems to be purely a cynical piece of PR on Apple’s part. Oh please. Has it ever occurred in the history of the world that the selfish motives of two different parties aligned? i.e. Apple gets good press for helping smaller developers and the smaller developers get increased revenues. It happens all the times, and it's called "good business". You can keep waiting for Apple's App Store executives to cover them…

If Apple didn't fear either Epic's lawsuit or Congressional action, or both, they'd never reduce their app store cut, for anyone, ever. This announcement means Apple knows that neither public opinion nor the law is on their side and they're about to lose really, really big. And they're hoping if they can flip this around a bit and get control of the narrative, they can convince regulators they will self-regulate... w…

Apple doesn’t fear Epic’s lawsuit for the merits of the lawsuit itself. Apple fears how Epic can use their devoted base of video game players to create a PR frenzy that turns the lawsuit into a popularity contest.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#437

Post by toyg »

AriaMinaei wrote: post #316
graeme wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not get another device? Third party app stores break the security model for regular users. Smartphones have seen explosive growth because normal people can use them safely.

> Why not get another device? This advice would work for clothes/home appliances/furniture and other competitive markets, but not to mobile OSes. Mobile OSes are natural monopoly/duopolies. There isn't enough room in the world for 100 OSes for us to get a competitive market. There isn't even room for 3. There is barely room for 2 with great downside. Companies spend a lot of money developing an app for one OS and bas…

> not to mobile OSes

Arguably not to OSes in general. Each platform type (desktop, server, mobile) effectively has only a couple of realistic choices when it comes to the OS. The network effects are very strong and winners take all.

Re: Apple Announces App Store Small Business Program

#439

Post by zaroth »

calcifer wrote: post #421
zaroth wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If Apple didn't fear either Epic's lawsuit or Congressional action, or both, they'd never reduce their app store cut, for anyone, ever. Except they have done exactly that in the past. In June 2016 Apple introduced a subscription billing model which reduces the fee to 15% after the first year a customer is subscribed.

I'm sure the developers of all 15 apps that sell multi-year subscriptions were very happy about that.

Interestingly the top benefactor is Google, as YouTube is #1 for subscription revenue in 2019 according to TechCrunch.

Subscription revenue on Apple's store was $3.6B of ~$50B in 2019, so 7.2% of app store revenue overall.

It's absolutely true that Apple doesn't have a lot of pricing pressure on their 30% fee, since their platform is so compelling and especially since most competitor App Stores charge the same amount. But it's also absolutely false that they have never lowered their rate.

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