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Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

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Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#81

Post by kevinpet »

res0nat0r wrote: post #77
shiftyjelly wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I just reply here? Here goes. I think you missed the entire point of the article. We agreed to be featured, we stand by that decision. What we take issue with is the public perception that Amazon pays their (publicly stated) 20% of the asking price for developers to be featured. They don't. Simple as that. Everything else is a beef, yes, but not our primary beef. Also we left it a month, we got featured June 27th…

Wait, you expected to receive 20% of your pre free giveaway price during the free app of the day promotion and Amazon just gives you money, seriously? Where exactly does it say that you get paid during a free giveaway promo? From the FAQ: What is the payment structure between Amazon and me? Amazon pays developers 70% of the sale price of the app or 20% of the list price, whichever is greater.

From the FAQ: Amazon pays developers 70% of the sale price of the app or 20% of the list price, whichever is greater.

I would interpret the sale price of the app to be zero, so they get 20% of list.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#82

Post by yalurker »

anigbrowl wrote: post #73
msbarnett wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon spent a lot of time advertising that devs get "70% of the sale price or 20% of the list price, whichever is greater ". Consequently, many people are under the impression that when the download the free app of the day, they are doing the devs a favor and earning them 20% of their list price, and I have absolutely seen people in public forums run around advertising when an app from a dev they like is a free-app-…

That advertising is to developers . I'm baffled by why anyone would think that the general public cares what payout Amazon is giving to developers. To the general public, it's a free app. Do you seriously imagine that members of the public are attracted to the Amazon Android App Alliteration Store because they think Amazon is a more charitable and supportive firm than Google, and shows greater kindness to the ramen-c…

There is 'general public' and there is 'tech-savvy android users'. The former you have probably characterized correctly, but I suspect you are underestimating the size of the latter. As the grandparent mentions, if people are posting on forums to help support the devs, then at least some people are being persuaded to use the service because they believe they're helping the developers.

Many people do go out of their way to support independent musicians or indie game makers. It's not unreasonable to believe that there are people who want to help support small mobile development shops.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#83

Post by res0nat0r »

kevinpet wrote: post #81
res0nat0r wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you expected to receive 20% of your pre free giveaway price during the free app of the day promotion and Amazon just gives you money, seriously? Where exactly does it say that you get paid during a free giveaway promo? From the FAQ: What is the payment structure between Amazon and me? Amazon pays developers 70% of the sale price of the app or 20% of the list price, whichever is greater.

From the FAQ: Amazon pays developers 70% of the sale price of the app or 20% of the list price, whichever is greater. I would interpret the sale price of the app to be zero, so they get 20% of list.

I'm not sure how one concludes that getting $50k of free money is even a smart assumption to make. So they give away X amount of money per day to app developers because they are being nice?

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#84

Post by neuroelectronic »

irons wrote: post #67
tybris wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 'Amazon is building their market on the backs of apps by giving them away for free. I don't get that. It's just a deal. They could have said no. The rules of the game are clear. Amazon can make your app free unilaterally, but you'll still get 20%. Or, you go into any arbitrary mutual business agreement with them to guarantee that your app gets promoted, at the cost of lower/no revenue. I found the fact that the lat…

I found the fact that the latter exists informative, but in no way threatening. Why does it have to be "threatening" to be newsworthy?

I don't know, but hear it is.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#85

Post by neuroelectronic »

kelnos wrote: post #65
rkalla wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

shifty, Admittedly, my response was focused more on the other beef than that single point. Given how much other information was in the post, I didn't think the 20% == 0% was the central argument; my apologies for missing that. My core belief that in the long(er) term that the give away likely would have helped the movement and sales of your app still stands though. I think you leaving it in the store for an extra mon…

Fine, it happened... but you also have your app on 101k more devices than you did the month before so do something with that, flip your perspective a bit and take advantage of it. Hell, before pulling out of the Amazon app store, release a new ad-supported version, and wait until a decent number of people have upgraded. Then pull out of Amazon's store. That should help defray the costs of the new hardware. Users can…

Nobody would buy an app from a developer who did this.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#86

Post by neuroelectronic »

dpcan wrote: post #79
res0nat0r wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you expected to receive 20% of your pre free giveaway price during the free app of the day promotion and Amazon just gives you money, seriously? Where exactly does it say that you get paid during a free giveaway promo? From the FAQ: What is the payment structure between Amazon and me? Amazon pays developers 70% of the sale price of the app or 20% of the list price, whichever is greater.

You are being sarcastic, right?

He definitely is. The developers definitely should get paid 20% of their asking price for free downloads because some people think that's what happens. Amazon should definitely be responsible of their perception in the eyes of a few niave developers.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#87

Post by neuroelectronic »

tybris wrote: post #62
WalterSear wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is amazon's standard policy. Many developers have commented on it.

Their standard policy concerns the unilateral decisions. This was a mutual agreement outside of the standard policy. The benefit to the app maker is a guaranteed free-app-of-the-day promotional spot, the benefit to Amazon is not having to pay the 20%. Seems like a (potentially) fair deal.

I'm pretty sure this is dramatized to fish for more sales.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#88

Post by neuroelectronic »

mcantelon wrote: post #6

>Amazon gets to set the price of your app to whatever they want, without any input from you, or even the chance to reject their price ... Amazon re-writes your description, and in ours they even made up things ... you can’t remove apps from their store That doesn't seem great.

Yes, but they still pay you as if they charged full price. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. The description thing is just odd though.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#89

Post by neuroelectronic »

foxit wrote: post #53

There are a lot of points in this - both in the sales pitch that Amazon gave the developers and the outcome of having participated - that are strikingly reminiscent of the Groupon experience for some businesses. (Many, even, based on the links dibarnu posted.) http://posiescafe.com/wp/?p=316

I guess you're leaving the actual comparison as an exercise for the reader. IIRC, both involved people who had little business savvy and a missed opportunity presented as a regretful decision. no money is exchanged here however, and they never detail the cost occurred to them by the extra load.

Re: Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core

#90

Post by res0nat0r »

yalurker wrote: post #82
anigbrowl wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That advertising is to developers . I'm baffled by why anyone would think that the general public cares what payout Amazon is giving to developers. To the general public, it's a free app. Do you seriously imagine that members of the public are attracted to the Amazon Android App Alliteration Store because they think Amazon is a more charitable and supportive firm than Google, and shows greater kindness to the ramen-c…

There is 'general public' and there is 'tech-savvy android users'. The former you have probably characterized correctly, but I suspect you are underestimating the size of the latter. As the grandparent mentions, if people are posting on forums to help support the devs, then at least some people are being persuaded to use the service because they believe they're helping the developers. Many people do go out of their w…

It is helping the developers. It is getting them a broader userbase than they would otherwise have by having it promoted front and center on the app store, and also it being free. I think it is pretty humorous people would assume they would just get free money from Amazon for this.
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