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

Coming changes to Apple's App Store

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 294 posts

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#201

Post by chillacy »

kybernetyk wrote: post #166
djrogers wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other option is for a single bug in a single release to stay in your app reviews in perpetuity. Why would you want that, rather than give prospective customers the option to look at current vs old reviews? Also, I would quibble with your description of it as 'resetting of visible app reviews' as the old reviews are still visible, they're just one tap away...

In a high volume market like the iOS app store this behavior might be OK. It shouldn't take too long to get back a few reviews to display a N stars rating. (Just guessing, have no iOS apps in the store). But in a low volume market like the Mac App Store it takes anywhere from a few weeks to months to get 5 reviews after an update. (Or even years in non US stores). I made the experience that updating a well reviewed M…

Yup. For that reason I've stopped releasing often and now have a beta program independent of the app store that people can opt into from the app itself.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#202

Post by mmcconnell1618 »

addicted wrote: post #173
chasing wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the mindset change that needs to happen is this: Apps are a service. I would actually prefer to pay developers of apps that are truly useful to me a monthly amount so I know they can continue to update and improve the app. If an app saves me $1000/yr in headache, I'd prefer to spend $30/yr on a subscription rather than lose the app entirely because the developers can't keep the lights on.

What happens if a developer bumps the price of their service that you rely on from $10/mo to $100/mo? At least if I purchase an app I can continue using it for a significant amount of time and look for an alternative. A subscription makes this much harder.

The article points out that changes in the subscription price will prompt a user to accept. If they take no action the subscription is cancelled automatically. So as a developer, changing your price could have a big attrition rate for current subscribers.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#203

Post by joshschreuder »

djrogers wrote: post #125
localhost3000 wrote: post #86

As an indie developer my single biggest gripe with the app store (after the obviously asinine review process) is the resetting of visible app reviews any time an app is updated. This is an incredibly expensive tax on shipping app updates which creates a strong disincentive to not incrementally improve your product and a strong incentive for sleazy developers to buy fake reviews when they do ship an update. I detest t…

The other option is for a single bug in a single release to stay in your app reviews in perpetuity. Why would you want that, rather than give prospective customers the option to look at current vs old reviews? Also, I would quibble with your description of it as 'resetting of visible app reviews' as the old reviews are still visible, they're just one tap away...

What about as a solution:

- show the version the user reviewing was on - allow the developer to reply to the review to say the bug was fixed in version x.x

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#204

Post by developer2 »

jkestner wrote: post #199
developer2 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Apple will not force you to subscribe to any apps No, but if the marketplace shifts to 90% of developers using subscriptions in their apps (essentially replacing the existing in-app purchases model), then it was facilitated by Apple as the "preferred" model for monetization. I'm in the same boat as others in the comments. I am willing to pay a subscription for the 2-3 pieces of software that are absolutely core to…

And if the marketplace shifts to 90% subscription apps and users don't want to pay it, then you'll see the marketplace shift again. We may not see it from our perspective, but the pay-once model is not sustainable for many apps - either they'll lose you, or you'll lose them.

>> if users don't want to pay it, then you'll see the marketplace shift again

My pessimistic opinion is that within Apple's walled garden, the consumers don't get to choose. If the majority of apps go the subscription route, they will succeed because there is no alternative. Average users won't stop paying because it's subscription; in the grand scheme of things, I suspect my refusal to go along with that model puts me in the minority.

I'm a huge fan of Apple hardware/software, but the App Store is not something I ever expect to operate on a set of ideals I agree with. The day they came out with in-app purchases, I figured the days of a model designed for someone like me will never happen.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#205

Post by dcw303 »

Apple's revisions to the App Store reinforce that they consider it a rival to the World Wide Web.

Google cornered Web search. Reaction: As they own the walled garden, Apple completely control search within the App Store. Adwords owns Web Advertisitng. Reaction: Apple will launch paid search in the App Store. Companies like Netflix, Blizzard, and Salesforce have direct lines to their customer's wallets through subscriptions. Reaction: Apple will launch subscriptions in App Store and take a cut from their developers.

I don't see any of this as a surprise. In fact, I see it as Apple playing to their own strengths. The web is too open a platform for Apple, and history has shown they don't succeed when they don't have control.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#206

Post by chj »

Few customers realize that how much it costs to keep an app going: platform API and UI change will either break your app or uglify it. If the app is using external service, then the service API could change too and that causes a lot of work. New device models come, and you will need a lot of work in redesigning the user interface. Even if you are not adding new features, the cost is real to developers especially if the market for this app is small.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#207

Post by MBCook »

post_break wrote: post #161
MBCook wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy Tweetbot today, it will work tomorrow. If Twitter changes the API on Monday, how many versions back should Tweetbot have to support based on a single $2 (or whatever) a few years ago? That's the issue. People get pissed there isn't perma-support for apps that need constant updates. This is a way to make that more feasible.

Tweetbot is kind of an edge case since they depend on a third party. A better example would be an application that does something, like a notes app, like noteability.

That I agree with. Something like that I probably wouldn't agree to subscribing to.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#208

Post by post_break »

adamlett wrote: post #178
post_break wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You give it the full 48 hours android allows you. The 2 hours is only automatic refund. After that you have 48 hours to send in a refund request.

Firstly, that's a hack. Secondly, even 48 hours is not nearly enough to evaluate complex productivity software. You might argue that the App Store doesn't have any software of that caliber, to which I would say that this could be part of what Apple is trying to address with this change.

Then why doesn't apple create a trial mode? Photoshop has one. The solution to try before buying isn't a subscription model, the solution is a trial.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#209

Post by abalone »

addicted wrote: post #175
abalone wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm perfectly happy to pay $20-30 for an app That's where you diverge from the population. Apple needs a solution for the general problem of people not wanting to pay much for iOS apps. It may disappoint those of us who prefer spending more up front for quality, but Apple has surely determined that more people will buy more apps this way. (By the way, you compared paying $X upfront to paying $X per year which of co…

But Apple already had a solution for this. The Mac App ecosystem. The Mac app eco system was thriving despite a ridiculously small market. The indie devs focused on delivering quality applications and a lot of people paid good money. Enough to sustain many indie companies and developers. I don't get why Apple has chosen to ignore the factors that helped make that eco system such high quality. Edit: I want to add I am…

> The Mac app eco system was thriving

Was it? What's your source?

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#210

Post by c1sc0 »

ingsoc79 wrote: post #21
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #11

All I know is that their review process has gotten WAY faster and better over the last month, as in 24 hour review which has been awesome. Have other people noticed this? I wonder if they added capacity or dropped review quality - so far we haven't seen a drop in quality and they are able to catch problems at about the same rate.

We've been seeing this too, with some apps being approved in Now if we could see a similar factor improvement in TestFlight beta review times...

They are pretty fast. Submitted two External TestFlight apps this week & they had sub-6h review times
Post reply on HN