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>Apple gives you one on a silver platter and for a pretty fair cost per acquisition compared to other channels. For the Apple system, isn't that the only avail

>Apple gives you one on a silver platter and for a pretty fair cost per acquisition compared to other channels. For the Apple system, isn't that the only available channel to sell and distribute apps? It's not like there are other alternatives, or am I missing something?

threeseed 6y ago
Facebook, Google, Twitter etc all offer advertising products targeted at app installs. So if you imagine a fictitious world where anyone could just install apps off the web then you would need to buy ads through the main 3 players above to get any visibility. Just like how it works today for SaaS or eCommerce products. And given that we know roughly how much CPC and volume is for certain keywords e.g email app then it's easy to get a picture of whether Apple is being unreasonable or not.
- oauea 6y ago
  What on earth are you talking about? I'd just host the .ipa on my website and tell my existing users to install it. Easy and done. Instead in this insane reality I have to pay Apple $100 every year for the privilege of distributing an app to my already existing user base.
  - threeseed 6y ago
    I am talking about the cost of acquiring customers. It's great that you have these existing users but almost all developers don't. And so when people say that 30% is expensive often it's because the are ignorant of how much it costs most businesses to acquire customers. And I have to pay to develop apps for most platforms so pretty confused why you feel like this is somehow unusual.
    - oauea 6y ago
      Name one other platform that charges nearly as much as $100 every year.
    - wayneftw 6y ago
      Nobody finds apps through the app store. They find them on Google and click a link that opens the app store.
      - ryanwaggoner 6y ago
        This is ridiculously false. Discoverability on the App Store could be much better, but anyone involved in App Store marketing will tell you that you get a huge boost by being featured. For example, this article claims 800%: https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/20/ios-11s-new-app-store-boosts-downloads-by-800-for-featured-apps/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/20/ios-11s-new-app-store-boos...
        wayneftw 6y ago
        Great! So, I am guaranteed to get featured in exchange for my $100 per year developer license and a 30% cut of my sale price?
        ryanwaggoner 6y ago
        Wow, so you moved the goalpost from "nobody discovers apps in the App Store" to "not every app is featured in the App Store".
        wayneftw 6y ago
        Wow, not really. The point is that the vast majority of apps are never featured and you know it. Everybody that’s paying the 30% still has to do their own marketing. Discovery through the app store is absolute shit. You’re trying to argue that getting lucky enough to be featured covers everybody that’s paying the 30%. It doesn’t.
- libertine 6y ago
  Assuming you only rely on paid media, yes, you'd need to pay for visibility (arguably through one or more of the 3 main players you've mentioned), or invest in other forms of earned and owned media. But paid media is a small fraction of the marketing mix when it comes to sell and distribute a product - doesn't matter if it's software or a physical product. Being unreasonable or not should be up to anyone of evaluates the distribution/sale/communication channel. But I'd limit this fee to be for the "access" to the only distribution channel - because you don't have a guarantee of clicks/impressions/downloads or any media KPI for that fee. The CPC of a paid keyword is a subset of many subsets of media alone.

threeseed 6y ago

Facebook, Google, Twitter etc all offer advertising products targeted at app installs. So if you imagine a fictitious world where anyone could just install apps off the web then you would need to buy ads through the main 3 players above to get any visibility. Just like how it works today for SaaS or eCommerce products. And given that we know roughly how much CPC and volume is for certain keywords e.g email app then it's easy to get a picture of whether Apple is being unreasonable or not.

oauea 6y ago
What on earth are you talking about? I'd just host the .ipa on my website and tell my existing users to install it. Easy and done. Instead in this insane reality I have to pay Apple $100 every year for the privilege of distributing an app to my already existing user base.
- threeseed 6y ago
  I am talking about the cost of acquiring customers. It's great that you have these existing users but almost all developers don't. And so when people say that 30% is expensive often it's because the are ignorant of how much it costs most businesses to acquire customers. And I have to pay to develop apps for most platforms so pretty confused why you feel like this is somehow unusual.
  - oauea 6y ago
    Name one other platform that charges nearly as much as $100 every year.
  - wayneftw 6y ago
    Nobody finds apps through the app store. They find them on Google and click a link that opens the app store.
    - ryanwaggoner 6y ago
      This is ridiculously false. Discoverability on the App Store could be much better, but anyone involved in App Store marketing will tell you that you get a huge boost by being featured. For example, this article claims 800%: https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/20/ios-11s-new-app-store-boosts-downloads-by-800-for-featured-apps/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/20/ios-11s-new-app-store-boos...
      - wayneftw 6y ago
        Great! So, I am guaranteed to get featured in exchange for my $100 per year developer license and a 30% cut of my sale price?
        ryanwaggoner 6y ago
        Wow, so you moved the goalpost from "nobody discovers apps in the App Store" to "not every app is featured in the App Store".
        wayneftw 6y ago
        Wow, not really. The point is that the vast majority of apps are never featured and you know it. Everybody that’s paying the 30% still has to do their own marketing. Discovery through the app store is absolute shit. You’re trying to argue that getting lucky enough to be featured covers everybody that’s paying the 30%. It doesn’t.
libertine 6y ago
Assuming you only rely on paid media, yes, you'd need to pay for visibility (arguably through one or more of the 3 main players you've mentioned), or invest in other forms of earned and owned media. But paid media is a small fraction of the marketing mix when it comes to sell and distribute a product - doesn't matter if it's software or a physical product. Being unreasonable or not should be up to anyone of evaluates the distribution/sale/communication channel. But I'd limit this fee to be for the "access" to the only distribution channel - because you don't have a guarantee of clicks/impressions/downloads or any media KPI for that fee. The CPC of a paid keyword is a subset of many subsets of media alone.