4 ms·

John Gruber on Apple’s 30% cut: To the victor goes the pricing power

16 points by lotusleaf1987 16y ago

cma 16y ago
Gruber has been getting nervous; Jobs hasn't praised him by name recently.
dreamux 16y ago
Apple pioneered a new sales and marketing pipeline, and gave it extremely low barriers to adoption for both consumers and developers. None of apple's competitors have been able to produce a competing service (based on community size), and until that happens apple will see no competitive pricing pressure to reduce their fees. The cost to run in apple's app store probably won't stay at 30% forever, but won't change until it faces real competition.
- beej71 16y ago
  I don't think there's much reason for them to change it even with competition. If publishers threaten to drop them as a target, then they'll change it. And that threat has more to do with market share than anything else.
zach 16y ago
So the New York Times deserves the best deal in the App Store because they're such a big company with a great brand? That puts a different spin on "to the victor goes the pricing power."
GHFigs 16y ago
It's extremely refreshing to read something regarding one of Apple's unpopular moves that isn't laced with fanboyism of one stripe or another.
- chromablue78 16y ago
  Please tell me my sarcasm meter is broken. It must be, for you to claim an article discussing John Gruber defending Apple as not being fanboyism. When was the last time Gruber wrote something negative about Apple? My best guess is probably July 8, 1997, the day before Amelio was shown the door...
  - pohl 16y ago
    The headline for this article mentions Gruber, but the article is actually at niemanlab.org. Perhaps it is the actual linked article GHFigs was referring to?
Silhouette 16y ago
I suppose I can accept the capitalist argument that Apple is the big player with control of the game, so short of monopoly abuse they get to set the rules. However, they do seem to adopt rather hostile policies toward the people who put the real value into their ecosystems, mainly the app store developers and content publishers. The good will of these communities has a lot of value, which a brand like Apple relies on. I won't have much sympathy if either or both communities abandon Apple platforms on a large scale if the alternatives evolve a similar level of functionality and more provider-friendly pricing and support policies. Then again, in the mobile space, the "competition" appears to be organisations like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and RIM, all of which have serious problems of their own. Until at least one of them gets their act together, or something remarkable happens built on some disruptive new platform, I doubt the Apple execs are going to be losing much sleep. I expect they can get away with the cash grab for long enough to be worthwhile, even if it does cause them a PR headache with developers that requires some pain to fix if and when there is more effective competition.

16 points by lotusleaf1987 16y ago

cma 16y ago

Gruber has been getting nervous; Jobs hasn't praised him by name recently.

Apple pioneered a new sales and marketing pipeline, and gave it extremely low barriers to adoption for both consumers and developers. None of apple's competitors have been able to produce a competing service (based on community size), and until that happens apple will see no competitive pricing pressure to reduce their fees. The cost to run in apple's app store probably won't stay at 30% forever, but won't change until it faces real competition.

beej71 16y ago
I don't think there's much reason for them to change it even with competition. If publishers threaten to drop them as a target, then they'll change it. And that threat has more to do with market share than anything else.

zach 16y ago

So the New York Times deserves the best deal in the App Store because they're such a big company with a great brand? That puts a different spin on "to the victor goes the pricing power."

GHFigs 16y ago

It's extremely refreshing to read something regarding one of Apple's unpopular moves that isn't laced with fanboyism of one stripe or another.

chromablue78 16y ago
Please tell me my sarcasm meter is broken. It must be, for you to claim an article discussing John Gruber defending Apple as not being fanboyism. When was the last time Gruber wrote something negative about Apple? My best guess is probably July 8, 1997, the day before Amelio was shown the door...
- pohl 16y ago
  The headline for this article mentions Gruber, but the article is actually at niemanlab.org. Perhaps it is the actual linked article GHFigs was referring to?

Silhouette 16y ago

I suppose I can accept the capitalist argument that Apple is the big player with control of the game, so short of monopoly abuse they get to set the rules. However, they do seem to adopt rather hostile policies toward the people who put the real value into their ecosystems, mainly the app store developers and content publishers. The good will of these communities has a lot of value, which a brand like Apple relies on. I won't have much sympathy if either or both communities abandon Apple platforms on a large scale if the alternatives evolve a similar level of functionality and more provider-friendly pricing and support policies. Then again, in the mobile space, the "competition" appears to be organisations like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and RIM, all of which have serious problems of their own. Until at least one of them gets their act together, or something remarkable happens built on some disruptive new platform, I doubt the Apple execs are going to be losing much sleep. I expect they can get away with the cash grab for long enough to be worthwhile, even if it does cause them a PR headache with developers that requires some pain to fix if and when there is more effective competition.