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Small group of iOS devs form “Developers Union” to request App Store changes

50 points by thread_id 8y ago

SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
By “changes” they want a free trail option and more money. On the trials... I don’t feel strongly. Maybe I’d like App trials, but maybe I’m glad they don’t exist because it leads to a level of gimpware that I don’t want on my phone. I’m glad to see trial tactics gone - although I do dislike ad based apps so maybe it’s the better of the two? I don’t an opinion on money. My apps directly tie into hardware we sell. The apps are free, we don’t want to do microtransactions or pay apps. We’re a Device Company. The 70/30 split does seem high I suppose. All in all... good luck I guess, but Apple is not a company I would try union tactics on. What is the practical outcome here - these developers are really going to not publish for iOS? I think we all know that’s not the case.
- criddell 8y ago
  > I’m glad they don’t exist because it leads to a level of gimpware that I don’t want on my phone I'm guessing you would always be able to just buy without going through the trial period.
  - SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
    Yea definitely. It’s just that if you tell people they have some option like Trials, some devs will take it with respect to the customer and many more will take it with no respect and you’ll get fantastically bad gimped UX. It’s the same as ads and “free to play”.
- vbezhenar 8y ago
  What's wrong with trials? A lot of developers have two version of their app: Trial free one and Paid one (or Free trial which unlocks into Paid with in-app purchase). I don't want to pay money just to try app and find out that it's bad. I want to download few different apps and compare them and then buy the best. It works fine on PC. It works now with different apps, it's just not convenient for user or developer. AppStore explicitly supporting trial mode would make a better experience for user. I know that I didn't buy some apps just because they lacked trial mode and I'm not ready to throw money based on some screenshots.
rajbot 8y ago
> The starting revenue share is 70-30 in Apple's favor, presently. Google offers a similar rate, but Microsoft recently announced a cut to its share of revenue to developers' favor Apple’s cut is 30%, but this sentence makes it sound like Apple takes 70%
- zwily 8y ago
  Yeah - I wonder what “in Apple’s favor” is supposed to mean in that sentence...
  - jkaplowitz 8y ago
    Probably just "we view this as too much", confusingly and imprecisely phrased.
- joelmbell 8y ago
  Looks like they updated the article, probably just a typo
sctb 8y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17103450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17103450.
joelmbell 8y ago
Worthwhile to read Brent Simmons blog post on this, he is one of the influential members of this group and has a really great perspective. http://inessential.com/2018/05/18/the_developers_union http://inessential.com/2018/05/18/the_developers_union

50 points by thread_id 8y ago

By “changes” they want a free trail option and more money. On the trials... I don’t feel strongly. Maybe I’d like App trials, but maybe I’m glad they don’t exist because it leads to a level of gimpware that I don’t want on my phone. I’m glad to see trial tactics gone - although I do dislike ad based apps so maybe it’s the better of the two? I don’t an opinion on money. My apps directly tie into hardware we sell. The apps are free, we don’t want to do microtransactions or pay apps. We’re a Device Company. The 70/30 split does seem high I suppose. All in all... good luck I guess, but Apple is not a company I would try union tactics on. What is the practical outcome here - these developers are really going to not publish for iOS? I think we all know that’s not the case.

criddell 8y ago
> I’m glad they don’t exist because it leads to a level of gimpware that I don’t want on my phone I'm guessing you would always be able to just buy without going through the trial period.
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
  Yea definitely. It’s just that if you tell people they have some option like Trials, some devs will take it with respect to the customer and many more will take it with no respect and you’ll get fantastically bad gimped UX. It’s the same as ads and “free to play”.
vbezhenar 8y ago
What's wrong with trials? A lot of developers have two version of their app: Trial free one and Paid one (or Free trial which unlocks into Paid with in-app purchase). I don't want to pay money just to try app and find out that it's bad. I want to download few different apps and compare them and then buy the best. It works fine on PC. It works now with different apps, it's just not convenient for user or developer. AppStore explicitly supporting trial mode would make a better experience for user. I know that I didn't buy some apps just because they lacked trial mode and I'm not ready to throw money based on some screenshots.

rajbot 8y ago

> The starting revenue share is 70-30 in Apple's favor, presently. Google offers a similar rate, but Microsoft recently announced a cut to its share of revenue to developers' favor Apple’s cut is 30%, but this sentence makes it sound like Apple takes 70%

zwily 8y ago
Yeah - I wonder what “in Apple’s favor” is supposed to mean in that sentence...
- jkaplowitz 8y ago
  Probably just "we view this as too much", confusingly and imprecisely phrased.
joelmbell 8y ago
Looks like they updated the article, probably just a typo

sctb 8y ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17103450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17103450.

joelmbell 8y ago

Worthwhile to read Brent Simmons blog post on this, he is one of the influential members of this group and has a really great perspective. http://inessential.com/2018/05/18/the_developers_union http://inessential.com/2018/05/18/the_developers_union