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"Oppenheimer: We’re not focused on making a lot of money on the App Store — with the iPad or iPhone. We’re just above break-even." That's interesting to me: th

"Oppenheimer: We’re not focused on making a lot of money on the App Store — with the iPad or iPhone. We’re just above break-even." That's interesting to me: that may explain the desire to keep the App store "clean" and the occasional hurt they put on developers. The App store reels people in; if they aren't making money on it the risks of bad publicity is higher than the risk of losing some apps

ugh 16y ago
What they want, though, and what makes the iPhone and the iPad so attractive are high quality apps. They might not care about the financial damage of losing a top notch developer, they sure as hell care when that makes iPhones and iPads less attractive. I think Apple still believes that they can get away with their App store policies because they still are to some degree the only game in town. It will be interesting to see how they will react to Android. We might see their policies change in some shape or form.
- cwilson 16y ago
  What do you mean how they react to Android? Is Android doing something new tomorrow that they haven't been doing for the past few years? So far Apple hasn't had to react to Google in this regard and I haven't seen anything convincing me that will change. And to clarify, I would LOVE to see Google/Android gain on Apple if only because it will benefit consumers, but so far I've been extremely disappointed. Regardless of some developer drama Apple continues to blow everyone else out of the water.
  - halo 16y ago
    "Few years"? Android has been out for 17 months, and only really got going with the HTC Hero about 8 months ago.
  - lenni 16y ago
    Extremely true. I have an HTC Hero and I'm pretty disappointed at the partial shittiness of the experience: Very delayed updates, slow UI, and now they HTC has installed a kernel that blocks all rooting attempts. That's exactly the reason I didn't buy an iPhone. Say what you want, the iPhone works great.
    - zmmmmm 16y ago
      This is one reason why I went for a Nexus One. While other vendors may abuse the freedom Android grants them you can be pretty sure Google is going to keep their flagship phone pure and open and free and also supply it with upgrades.
- andreyf 16y ago
  It will be interesting to see how they will react to Android. I don't see how Android's marketplace will ever be a threat to Apple's. Just look at the financial incentives: Apple is in the game to make money off the devices and the content royalties. Google is in the game to commoditize the devices that people use to see ads, and Android applications are a complement to those devices. To Apple, the App Store is both itself a source of income and a complement to their primary source of income. To Google, the Android Marketplace as a complement to a complement to their source of income.
  - nooneelse 16y ago
    Why think that Android is limited to only the Google operated application market? Some other more boutique ones could spring up to fill the "quality and polished" niche, if users want that.
  - ZeroGravitas 16y ago
    This very thread starts with a quote from Apple saying the App Store is not a source of income for them.
- protomyth 16y ago
  I wonder how many of the high quality, well known apps are running afoul of store policy?
protomyth 16y ago
I get the feeling the credit care fees eat up a big chunk on their 30% of a $0.99 app.
- derefr 16y ago
  What's the average number of apps a person buys per month? I wonder if it would be more profitable to batch them to a certain minimum monthly limit (i.e. $3.00), and only charge otherwise if they haven't billed in, say, three months.
  - tdm911 16y ago
    they are batched up to some extent. i find i get 2-3 apps appear on each invoice (sometimes more). it only seems to cover a couple of days generally though.

ugh 16y ago

What they want, though, and what makes the iPhone and the iPad so attractive are high quality apps. They might not care about the financial damage of losing a top notch developer, they sure as hell care when that makes iPhones and iPads less attractive. I think Apple still believes that they can get away with their App store policies because they still are to some degree the only game in town. It will be interesting to see how they will react to Android. We might see their policies change in some shape or form.

cwilson 16y ago
What do you mean how they react to Android? Is Android doing something new tomorrow that they haven't been doing for the past few years? So far Apple hasn't had to react to Google in this regard and I haven't seen anything convincing me that will change. And to clarify, I would LOVE to see Google/Android gain on Apple if only because it will benefit consumers, but so far I've been extremely disappointed. Regardless of some developer drama Apple continues to blow everyone else out of the water.
- halo 16y ago
  "Few years"? Android has been out for 17 months, and only really got going with the HTC Hero about 8 months ago.
- lenni 16y ago
  Extremely true. I have an HTC Hero and I'm pretty disappointed at the partial shittiness of the experience: Very delayed updates, slow UI, and now they HTC has installed a kernel that blocks all rooting attempts. That's exactly the reason I didn't buy an iPhone. Say what you want, the iPhone works great.
  - zmmmmm 16y ago
    This is one reason why I went for a Nexus One. While other vendors may abuse the freedom Android grants them you can be pretty sure Google is going to keep their flagship phone pure and open and free and also supply it with upgrades.
andreyf 16y ago
It will be interesting to see how they will react to Android. I don't see how Android's marketplace will ever be a threat to Apple's. Just look at the financial incentives: Apple is in the game to make money off the devices and the content royalties. Google is in the game to commoditize the devices that people use to see ads, and Android applications are a complement to those devices. To Apple, the App Store is both itself a source of income and a complement to their primary source of income. To Google, the Android Marketplace as a complement to a complement to their source of income.
- nooneelse 16y ago
  Why think that Android is limited to only the Google operated application market? Some other more boutique ones could spring up to fill the "quality and polished" niche, if users want that.
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  This very thread starts with a quote from Apple saying the App Store is not a source of income for them.
protomyth 16y ago
I wonder how many of the high quality, well known apps are running afoul of store policy?

protomyth 16y ago

I get the feeling the credit care fees eat up a big chunk on their 30% of a $0.99 app.

derefr 16y ago
What's the average number of apps a person buys per month? I wonder if it would be more profitable to batch them to a certain minimum monthly limit (i.e. $3.00), and only charge otherwise if they haven't billed in, say, three months.
- tdm911 16y ago
  they are batched up to some extent. i find i get 2-3 apps appear on each invoice (sometimes more). it only seems to cover a couple of days generally though.