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

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

android-developers.googleblog.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 342 posts

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

#221

Post by criddell »

leetcrew wrote: post #173
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.

pure speculation, but I doubt there's some intrinsic quality of android that makes users reluctant to pay for apps. more likely, people that are very price sensitive are more likely to have an android phone to begin with. the cheapest new iphone is already $400. while it may not be a good long-term value, you can buy an android phone for $50.

I think there is some intrinsic quality of Android hardware and software. It might be that it's from Google and so it feels like ever swipe and tap is monetized in some way. Or maybe it's the latency of the display and the way so many apps have display issues that makes everything feel second tier.

Apple's stuff feels better in the hand and I think that makes a user more willing to invest in it.

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

#222

Post by kop316 »

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?

Becuase I want to know if the reason they say piracy is easy is because users can install their own apps (which to me is a red herring, as Windows and Linux, this has been true for decades and there are established ways to curtail piracy[1]), or if there is actually a reason that piracy is easy on Android.

[1] https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe...

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

#223

Post by ocdtrekkie »

mrkramer wrote: post #205
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google exists, for one. Microsoft decided against early attempts to acquire Google or block their toolbar in IE because of the fear of further antitrust legislation.

You think Google would sell to Microsoft? Larry and Sergey are one the smartest founders ever. They had clear vision and mission for Google.

Microsoft was in a position to put Google entirely out of business at the time, and buy it for pennies on the dollar. Internet Explorer was THE dominant browser at the time with over 90 percent market share, and Microsoft was considering blocking the install of Google Toolbar (the vaguely malware-esque add-on Google paid Adobe to inject into Flash Player and Reader installers) and preventing Google from modifying the default search.

Google would not still exist without the antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft that scared them into playing it safe.

Also, Larry and Sergey's vision was an academic search engine that wasn't tainted by the mixed motivations of advertising[1]. Since they built the world's largest ad company, it's fair to say they sold out their vision and mission and the first opportunity for a lot of money.

[1] http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html appendix A

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

#224

Post by shimfish »

JeremyNT wrote: post #197
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.

Why is that a simpler theory than "why pay when it's incredibly simple to download for free"?

https://venturebeat.com/2015/01/05/monument-valley-developer...

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

#225

Post by criddell »

bookmarkable wrote: post #211
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.

Trust. Any experienced marketer will tell you that is the most difficult part of securing a transaction. Whether Android users and fans agree or not, the purchase behavior on iOS vs Android mirrors any other comparison of luxury or near-luxury shopping behavior compared to lower rent shopping options. The rent is higher to get in to the AppStore, too, given you need a $100/year subscription and a Mac. Apple keenly un…

> Of course Android has millions of users that simply can’t afford to buy apps

I think the portion of Android users that can't afford to buy an app is very, very small. It's no where near big enough to explain the difference between the two platforms.

> but even among those that can, it is a psychological difference

I think so too. Even people who are able to spend a dollar or two on an app are unwilling.

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

#226

Post by shimfish »

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?

From 2015. No reason to believe things would have got better since then.

https://venturebeat.com/2015/01/05/monument-valley-developer...

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

#227

Post by Karunamon »

onion2k wrote: post #53
cat_plus_plus wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that Android is open source and you can just sideload apps, install a 3rd party app store or replace entire OS with your own ROM right? What, your app/game is not valuable enough to the user to bother with unless it's a single click install without having to enter credit card? Well... Basically - Situation is not at all the same as with iOS - There is too much emphasis on friction-less low value installs and…

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…

Microsoft's mere inclusion of a web browser (which is now a basic OS tool that is reasonably expected to come out of the box, but then was new) wasn't why they lost their case. They lost their case because they were demanding OEMs refuse to include any alternative browsers on pain of revoking their pricing agreements.

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

#228

Post by kop316 »

shimfish wrote: post #226
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?

From 2015. No reason to believe things would have got better since then. https://venturebeat.com/2015/01/05/monument-valley-developer...

> How is piracy for Android any easier than say, Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux?

I'm not arguing if it is easier, I am asking how is it easier? That article does not answer how.

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

#230

Post by edoceo »

withinboredom wrote: post #190
giantg2 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it doesn't make money - it's free . It doesn't have ads either.

I'd love to see that if your app was free with no ads, you didn't have to pay for a dev account.

Same, help my FOSS projects out!
Post reply on HN