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But, if you pay for the Mac Developer Program, you can download it from the website. So either $5 or $99/year. But you need to pay $99/year to submit apps to th

by varikin 16y ago

But, if you pay for the Mac Developer Program, you can download it from the website. So either $5 or $99/year. But you need to pay $99/year to submit apps to the app store—at least iOS app store, I assume the same for Mac App Store. So developers don't have to experience the app store. I think it is to deter everyone from installing XCode just because they can. That 4+ GB download isn't free on their side. It is just enough of a pain point to make sure the user is sure they want it, but not so bad that people have to save up for it.

reemrevnivek 16y ago
Well, each time a single app sells on the app store, they get 30%. If we assume it costs $5 to host XCode, then if each developer averages 17 downloads, they'll make a few cents off of each one. If we assume that one developer in a thousand gets 17,000 downloads, they'll still make money. The argument for covering their hosting costs seems hollow to me, even if we assume it actually costs $5.