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5-10%. What’s “access”? Apple aren’t featuring your app unless you know someone. Otherwise they’re providing payment processing (<2% at Apple scale) and binary

5-10%. What’s “access”? Apple aren’t featuring your app unless you know someone. Otherwise they’re providing payment processing (<2% at Apple scale) and binary hosting.

sjwright 8y ago
They're providing an extensive toolchain, extremely well documented APIs, a solid development environment, code signing, app reviews etc. They're also providing a mechanism for automated updates. They're also providing a degree of trust around the sale process, including the developer's identity and an additional layer of guarantees of suitability and merchantability. They're also providing to the end user a level of confidence—whether real or perceived—about the products being sold and their ability to mislead, abuse or damage the device. They're maintaining the ecosystem that allows the App to be sold in the first place. And they're providing all of the above for free to developers who want to give away their apps. I'm not saying the sum total is worth 30% of gross sales—or even half that—but it's not simply credit card processing and binary hosting.
- jasonlotito 8y ago
  As a customer who purchased the iPhone, I paid for the iPhone already. The first two points benefit Apple and me, not just App developers. I've already paid for that, because that's part of what Apple sells when it sells an iPhone: access to apps. As for the degree of trust around the sales process, that's not true. I get that with my credit cards already. Apple doesn't instill any additional confidence when it comes to the sales process. Quite the opposite in fact. I mean, if I want a refund for valid reasons, and Apple won't give it to me, and I call up my credit card company and they issue a charge back, will Apple do something negative to my account (such as block other purchases I made?) > They're also providing to the end user a level of confidence Yeah, and I paid for that already. > They're maintaining the ecosystem that allows the App to be sold in the first place. That benefits them, because without it, I wouldn't buy an iPhone. > And they're providing all of the above for free to developers who want to give away their apps. No, they aren't providing it for free. I'm paying for it, the iPhone/iPod owner. They are literally using these things you mention in their marketing of the iPhone. Take away apps, and see how well the iPhone does. Apple takes 30% because they can. I'd much rather see the producer of the App get my money, but Apple makes this difficult to do easily for customers. If Apple really had my best interest in mind, they'd charge a modest fee for the app store and processing, or allow companies to use 3rd party processors.
  - sjwright 8y ago
    > > They're also providing to the end user a level of confidence > Yeah, and I paid for that already. The point is Apple is providing developers access to that reputation. Anyway, I agree that the sum total of everything they provide is not worth 30 percent. But then again, when I bought boxed software of a retail shelf fifteen years ago, the retailer applied a 50-100% mark-up. It has never been easier to sell software.

5-10%. What’s “access”? Apple aren’t featuring your app unless you know someone. Otherwise they’re providing payment processing (<2% at Apple scale) and binary hosting.

sjwright 8y ago

They're providing an extensive toolchain, extremely well documented APIs, a solid development environment, code signing, app reviews etc. They're also providing a mechanism for automated updates. They're also providing a degree of trust around the sale process, including the developer's identity and an additional layer of guarantees of suitability and merchantability. They're also providing to the end user a level of confidence—whether real or perceived—about the products being sold and their ability to mislead, abuse or damage the device. They're maintaining the ecosystem that allows the App to be sold in the first place. And they're providing all of the above for free to developers who want to give away their apps. I'm not saying the sum total is worth 30% of gross sales—or even half that—but it's not simply credit card processing and binary hosting.

jasonlotito 8y ago
As a customer who purchased the iPhone, I paid for the iPhone already. The first two points benefit Apple and me, not just App developers. I've already paid for that, because that's part of what Apple sells when it sells an iPhone: access to apps. As for the degree of trust around the sales process, that's not true. I get that with my credit cards already. Apple doesn't instill any additional confidence when it comes to the sales process. Quite the opposite in fact. I mean, if I want a refund for valid reasons, and Apple won't give it to me, and I call up my credit card company and they issue a charge back, will Apple do something negative to my account (such as block other purchases I made?) > They're also providing to the end user a level of confidence Yeah, and I paid for that already. > They're maintaining the ecosystem that allows the App to be sold in the first place. That benefits them, because without it, I wouldn't buy an iPhone. > And they're providing all of the above for free to developers who want to give away their apps. No, they aren't providing it for free. I'm paying for it, the iPhone/iPod owner. They are literally using these things you mention in their marketing of the iPhone. Take away apps, and see how well the iPhone does. Apple takes 30% because they can. I'd much rather see the producer of the App get my money, but Apple makes this difficult to do easily for customers. If Apple really had my best interest in mind, they'd charge a modest fee for the app store and processing, or allow companies to use 3rd party processors.
- sjwright 8y ago
  > > They're also providing to the end user a level of confidence > Yeah, and I paid for that already. The point is Apple is providing developers access to that reputation. Anyway, I agree that the sum total of everything they provide is not worth 30 percent. But then again, when I bought boxed software of a retail shelf fifteen years ago, the retailer applied a 50-100% mark-up. It has never been easier to sell software.