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That tax is one of things keeping app quality high, and they have to pay people to screen your apps. They can offer an educational scholarship.

ronilan 7y ago
I think the opposite is happening. The tax ensures that any app developer has costs to recover. It thus drives them to do so in ways that reduce quality. At the same time it pushes away the hobbyists who may have decided to develop non-monetized versions of an app at higher quality. (look at kids apps as example)
- K0SM0S 7y ago
  Not saying I like it, but I think the financial commitment aims at ensuring some long-term involvement, because what matters is not to make an app but rather to maintain it —especially in the Apple ecosystem which breaks things quite often. In other words, you have to think about that before you even release, and as a dev it doesn't really make sense to do a one-off and leave.
  - ronilan 7y ago
    So taking funds from someone is designed to ensures their commitment to the taker? That’s a logic I never heard before. (It’s a line item in corporate accounting. That’s it’s only justification. It can easily be abolished if there is any motivation to do so)
    - K0SM0S 7y ago
      Being able to pay on a regular basis means you have some structure, it's not just a fad in your life whether personal or professional. It's gatekeeping, don't think for one second I agree with the principle, but from a business standpoint that's the best justification I can think of. Price = commitment
    - minblaster 7y ago
      The developer will consider whether the app is worth the fee. If they aren't committed to maintaining the app, they'll stop paying and it will be removed.
- dev_tty01 7y ago
  The tools are free with a free developer account. If you distribute an app as open source on Github anyone can download and build the app to use for themselves. There is also a fee waiver program for non-profits, educational institutions, and government entities. As far as programmer hobbyists, one has to buy a computer, disk drives, pay for internet access, food, coffee, etc. Most hobbies and passions have non-trivial associated costs.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]

ronilan 7y ago

I think the opposite is happening. The tax ensures that any app developer has costs to recover. It thus drives them to do so in ways that reduce quality. At the same time it pushes away the hobbyists who may have decided to develop non-monetized versions of an app at higher quality. (look at kids apps as example)

K0SM0S 7y ago
Not saying I like it, but I think the financial commitment aims at ensuring some long-term involvement, because what matters is not to make an app but rather to maintain it —especially in the Apple ecosystem which breaks things quite often. In other words, you have to think about that before you even release, and as a dev it doesn't really make sense to do a one-off and leave.
- ronilan 7y ago
  So taking funds from someone is designed to ensures their commitment to the taker? That’s a logic I never heard before. (It’s a line item in corporate accounting. That’s it’s only justification. It can easily be abolished if there is any motivation to do so)
  - K0SM0S 7y ago
    Being able to pay on a regular basis means you have some structure, it's not just a fad in your life whether personal or professional. It's gatekeeping, don't think for one second I agree with the principle, but from a business standpoint that's the best justification I can think of. Price = commitment
  - minblaster 7y ago
    The developer will consider whether the app is worth the fee. If they aren't committed to maintaining the app, they'll stop paying and it will be removed.
dev_tty01 7y ago
The tools are free with a free developer account. If you distribute an app as open source on Github anyone can download and build the app to use for themselves. There is also a fee waiver program for non-profits, educational institutions, and government entities. As far as programmer hobbyists, one has to buy a computer, disk drives, pay for internet access, food, coffee, etc. Most hobbies and passions have non-trivial associated costs.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]