Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#191

Post by duxup » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

shimfish wrote: post #106

What's also not being said here is that ~99% of apps on Google Play don't make money this way either. Due to a combination of Android user's reluctance to spend money on apps at all and the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy, most developers only way to make money is through in-app advertising, which this change obviously makes no difference to. Google Play is mostly a pyramid scheme. Devel…

>Google Play is mostly a pyramid scheme. Developer's can only make money from showing ads and at the same time can only get downloads if they place ads on other people's apps. And Google just happens to own all the mobile ad companies.

Most businesses fail because they don't get customers... that doesn't make starting a business a pyramid scheme.

App stores are super saturated with apps, there's the reason you can't make money. If you can't and choose to use ads ... that's your business decision...

Sometimes I think the issue of fees and other issues including poor customer service from google gets tied up with the difficulty of even just making any money on the play store / a whole glut of apps that straight up most won't make money no matter what happens.

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#192

Post by nsomaru » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #185

shimfish wrote: post #106

What's also not being said here is that ~99% of apps on Google Play don't make money this way either. Due to a combination of Android user's reluctance to spend money on apps at all and the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy, most developers only way to make money is through in-app advertising, which this change obviously makes no difference to. Google Play is mostly a pyramid scheme. Devel…

> the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy Respectfully, I would like a citation on this. How is piracy for Android any easier than say, Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux?

Why leave out the only actual platform that android competes with, iOS?

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#193

Post by nsomaru » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:18 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #166

criddell wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always wondered what it is about Android that makes users reluctant to pay for apps. I'm guilty of it too. I have both iOS and Android devices and I spend far more money buying apps on my iOS device.

Aren't there fewer free apps to choose in iOS? They charge $100 per year to be a developer. That's kept me from making my apps multiplatform.

Is the $100 fee really the difference and is it comparable with the man hours you would spend porting?

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#194

Post by pja » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:19 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #185

shimfish wrote: post #106

What's also not being said here is that ~99% of apps on Google Play don't make money this way either. Due to a combination of Android user's reluctance to spend money on apps at all and the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy, most developers only way to make money is through in-app advertising, which this change obviously makes no difference to. Google Play is mostly a pyramid scheme. Devel…

> the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy Respectfully, I would like a citation on this. How is piracy for Android any easier than say, Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux?

I guess the point is that of the two main mobile platforms, it’s much easier to pirate Android Apps than iPhone Apps.

Desktops are a whole different kettle of fish, which is why profitable companies have (mostly) given up on selling software & are making money via SaaS approaches on desktop.

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#195

Post by watwut » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:20 PM UTC

jeswin wrote: post #176

shimfish wrote: post #106

What's also not being said here is that ~99% of apps on Google Play don't make money this way either. Due to a combination of Android user's reluctance to spend money on apps at all and the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy, most developers only way to make money is through in-app advertising, which this change obviously makes no difference to. Google Play is mostly a pyramid scheme. Devel…

> Due to a combination of Android user's reluctance to spend money on apps at all and the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy Ridiculous allegation, which doesn't take into account the wealth inequality around the world. Hundreds of millions of people in the developing world have a smartphone today due to Android; a $1000 phone, or even a $400 phone is way out of reach for them. So the "relu…

> So the "reluctance to spend money on apps" is that it's a choice between that and food on the table.

Sometimes yes. But also, spending money on apps you dont need is not virtue. For that matter, spending money on stuff you dont need is not virtue in general.

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#196

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

oblio wrote: post #168

pjmlp wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IF one happens to own a flagship Android device from top brands, nothing changed for the devices that most people actually buy in large quantities for their pre-paid cards. https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/4/20847758/google-android-up... Google's own security reports marketing usually only focus on the devices where they can sell a nice Treble picture.

It will trickle down. Even for those top brands it was a struggle.

Nokia will gladly sell me a new device for Android 11, even though other devices from them of similar age as 7+ already got it, and they are one of the best update stories currently.

Meanwhile most shopping malls in Germany still sell pre-paid phones with Android 7 and above.

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#197

Post by JeremyNT » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

shimfish wrote: post #106

What's also not being said here is that ~99% of apps on Google Play don't make money this way either. Due to a combination of Android user's reluctance to spend money on apps at all and the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy, most developers only way to make money is through in-app advertising, which this change obviously makes no difference to. Google Play is mostly a pyramid scheme. Devel…

You're blaming piracy? Color me incredibly skeptical.

How about occam's razor instead: people who buy cheaper phones have less cash to spend on "premium" apps.

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#198

Post by vishnumohandas » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:24 PM UTC

coder543 wrote: post #178

vishnumohandas wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 5% That’s less than the Stripe tax!

Stripe is 2.9% + 30¢, isn't it? What am I missing? I guess you're implying that these transactions are normally so small that the 30¢ raises it to above 5%? I think it really depends on your price structure.

It depends on where you are. International payments to India could cost up to 6.3% including currency conversion charges.

https://stripe.com/en-in/pricing

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#199

Post by dragonwriter » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:25 PM UTC

nsomaru wrote: post #192

kop316 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the rampant piracy that Android's open model makes trivially easy Respectfully, I would like a citation on this. How is piracy for Android any easier than say, Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux?

Why leave out the only actual platform that android competes with, iOS?

I don't think Android really significantly competes with iOS or vice versa. Android and iOS are almost entirely independent markets. The competition for Android devices is other Android devices. The competition for iOS devices...isn't.

Re: Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year

#200

Post by joering2 » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 2:29 PM UTC

xmprt wrote: post #66

onion2k wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those apps would not survive without vendor-included single click app stores anyway. I find this a little amusing because it's the exact reason why Microsoft lost their IE anti-trust case. Users were given IE by default, and because using something else required effort IE took a huge chunk of the market remarkably quickly. That was deemed to be violating their effective monopoly position on OSs to influence their pos…

I strongly believe that if the Microsoft anti-trust case happened today, Microsoft would easily win. The tech monopolies that we have today have a much bigger impact on society.

Absolutely! First time I loaded Google Search and saw ad under search box, where nobody else can advertise, no matter how much they offer to pay, saying “not using Chrome? Click to install now”, I thought to myself “damn they gonna get huge ant-minopoly lawsuit that will cost then billions”. And what happened?? Nothing! Other than Chrome is number one browser now for decades to come.