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That complains is from a Twitter user which seems unrelated to Roblox. He quote the IPO documents... which I don't think is a document usually used to complains

by dwild 6y ago

That complains is from a Twitter user which seems unrelated to Roblox. He quote the IPO documents... which I don't think is a document usually used to complains about fees ;). Roblox is free too, so you need to pay for the platform somewhere, which means it has to be part of the microtransactions. I expect to pay for Android and iOS while I buy the device, not during the subsequent multiple microtransactions, thus that platform fee is double dipping.

maratc 6y ago
That twitter user seems to be OP, I'm just pointing out that maybe their ire is mistargeted. What one pays for Android/iOS gets them a device with calendar, email client, camera, web browser and not much else. Since one can extend that functionality later by installing more apps — including these that did not even exist at the time of buying the device — the double-dipping is double-edged. The buyer can get more functionality, and the platform creator can get more money.
esrauch 6y ago
> I expect to pay for Android and iOS while I buy the device I think when you buy an Android phone you aren't paying for the OS (based on a quick search it seems that Google doesn't get a cut of Samsung phone sales and doesn't charge OEMs any licensing fees).
- blacksmith_tb 6y ago
  Though you may be paying the device manufacturer for their (probably terrible) re-skinning of the stock Android UI (Samsung and Xiaomi come to mind as examples that make a pretty different-looking/feeling skin on their devices).
- lawrenceyan 6y ago
  Android is technically "open source and free", but all the profit from the Play Store goes directly to Google (i.e. The 30% from app store purchases completely skips OEMs like Samsung and funnels entirely to Google). Hence, why they're willing to offer the OS for free and why they push so hard for it. They make far more money from app purchases.
  - esrauch 6y ago
    Right: the comment I replied to was saying that they don't think the 30% cut is fair since the user paid for the OS. I was just pointing out that doesn't seem to check out since they didn't actually pay for the OS (if it's Android and not Google hardware). They might reasonably say they'd rather pay for the OS upfront instead though.
  - aaaxyz 6y ago
    They make _far_ more money from mining all the data your device sends them about you. The secret sauce for Android is the proprietary Google Play Services package that contains all the APIs that make the device usable (and enables the snooping). The base open source Android OS is limited in functionality.

by dwild 6y ago

maratc 6y ago

That twitter user seems to be OP, I'm just pointing out that maybe their ire is mistargeted. What one pays for Android/iOS gets them a device with calendar, email client, camera, web browser and not much else. Since one can extend that functionality later by installing more apps — including these that did not even exist at the time of buying the device — the double-dipping is double-edged. The buyer can get more functionality, and the platform creator can get more money.

esrauch 6y ago

> I expect to pay for Android and iOS while I buy the device I think when you buy an Android phone you aren't paying for the OS (based on a quick search it seems that Google doesn't get a cut of Samsung phone sales and doesn't charge OEMs any licensing fees).

blacksmith_tb 6y ago
Though you may be paying the device manufacturer for their (probably terrible) re-skinning of the stock Android UI (Samsung and Xiaomi come to mind as examples that make a pretty different-looking/feeling skin on their devices).
lawrenceyan 6y ago
Android is technically "open source and free", but all the profit from the Play Store goes directly to Google (i.e. The 30% from app store purchases completely skips OEMs like Samsung and funnels entirely to Google). Hence, why they're willing to offer the OS for free and why they push so hard for it. They make far more money from app purchases.
- esrauch 6y ago
  Right: the comment I replied to was saying that they don't think the 30% cut is fair since the user paid for the OS. I was just pointing out that doesn't seem to check out since they didn't actually pay for the OS (if it's Android and not Google hardware). They might reasonably say they'd rather pay for the OS upfront instead though.
- aaaxyz 6y ago
  They make _far_ more money from mining all the data your device sends them about you. The secret sauce for Android is the proprietary Google Play Services package that contains all the APIs that make the device usable (and enables the snooping). The base open source Android OS is limited in functionality.