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It's definitely not 0 to build, maintain, and curate the App Store. Not even "almost zero". >> The buying experience is easier, but this doesn't seem to transl

by rgbrgb 11y ago

It's definitely not 0 to build, maintain, and curate the App Store. Not even "almost zero". >> The buying experience is easier, but this doesn't seem to translate into additional sales. I'd like to see a source for this assertion. In my anecdotal experience of selling software on the App Store and not on the App Store, it's 10x harder to do it yourself (so for me worth the 30%). Reducing friction increases purchases -- that's why Apple, Amazon, and even Stripe now store consumer credit cards. That's not even taking into account how valuable being featured is. Maybe 30% is not the right number, and I totally agree that the OS should not insist that your apps be procured through a blessed channel, but there's a huge difference in effort between setting up your own store using Stripe and selling on the App Store.

mikeash 11y ago
My source for the assertion is purely personal, from knowing a lot of developers who sell both in out of the store. Pretty much universally, if a product is available both through the Mac App Store and directly, the sales through the two channels are comparable. No, I have no numbers to back it up, just talking with people who actually do it. Having done both, in terms of effort I'd much rather set up my own store. Selling on the App Store is a horrible mess. Code signing, provisioning, verification, review, they do not make it easy at all. And good luck if you want to actually test the build you submit to the store. Any competent programmer should be able to set up a web store without a great deal of pain. I think there's a big disconnect here in terms of how different people approach and prioritize things. You're pointing to the submission process as an advantage. A sibling poster actually pointed to app review as an advantage. To me, they are both horrible disadvantages that make the App Store a terrible place for developers.

by rgbrgb 11y ago

mikeash 11y ago

My source for the assertion is purely personal, from knowing a lot of developers who sell both in out of the store. Pretty much universally, if a product is available both through the Mac App Store and directly, the sales through the two channels are comparable. No, I have no numbers to back it up, just talking with people who actually do it. Having done both, in terms of effort I'd much rather set up my own store. Selling on the App Store is a horrible mess. Code signing, provisioning, verification, review, they do not make it easy at all. And good luck if you want to actually test the build you submit to the store. Any competent programmer should be able to set up a web store without a great deal of pain. I think there's a big disconnect here in terms of how different people approach and prioritize things. You're pointing to the submission process as an advantage. A sibling poster actually pointed to app review as an advantage. To me, they are both horrible disadvantages that make the App Store a terrible place for developers.