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The prices aren't invisible to the companies putting the app on the Google store. In principle they could try and use a different store with lower fees and redu

The prices aren't invisible to the companies putting the app on the Google store. In principle they could try and use a different store with lower fees and reduce their prices for the same margins couldn't they?

donmcronald 5y ago
They mean for the average app purchaser: $0.70 - App $0.30 - Apple Fee $1.00 - Total And I agree. The reason it’s obfuscated is because people would instantly realize it’s bad value.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  Isn’t Apple’s fee 15% now? However, I do agree. It should be shown to the user like this.
  - gusgus01 5y ago
    Only for developers making less that 1 million in net sales per year will the fee be 15%. For every other developer, it's still 30%.
    - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
      First million is at 15% for everyone I figure?
      - wlesieutre 5y ago
        I believe that's how Google is doing it, but Apple is not
      - banana_giraffe 5y ago
        Google does a 15% progressive fee for the first $1mil. Apple sorta does the same, though once you cross the $1mil threshold, you pay a 30% cut next year on all your sales.
        pascoej 5y ago
        Only recently in response to all this anti-trust stuff.
      - extra88 5y ago
        This article [0] says the Play Store takes 15% from the first million but Apple's store takes 30% of everything once you pass one million/year. But it also makes it clear that only a very small percentage of apps in either store make more than one million/year. Another article [1] says 98% of developers in the Apple store would be below one million/year but also that that long tail generates only 5% of the store's revenue. There are a tiny number of apps that are enormous winners, games I assume, and there's everything else. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/data-shows-how-few-google-play-developers-will-pay-the-higher-30-commission-after-policy-change/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/data-shows-how-few-google-... [1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21572302/apple-app-store-small-business-program-commission-cut-15-percent-reduction https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21572302/apple-app-store...
        sim_card_map 5y ago
        > but Apple's store takes 30% of everything once you pass one million/year So it's much better to earn 999k instead of 1.1 million...
  - smolyeet 5y ago
    If your app doesn't make over a certain amount. Large apps still have to
  - donmcronald 5y ago
    > Isn’t Apple’s fee 15% now? I think both Apple and Google did that. It's a desperate attempt to avoid regulation IMO. I think both should be forced to facilitate competing app stores. There should be no mercy for them after a decade of anti-competitive price gouging.
- ralph84 5y ago
  Meh. For a consumer with historical context it seems like an incredible value. Apps used to cost $49.95 at Egghead, and Egghead was certainly taking a bigger cut than 30 cents. Apple fucked ISVs by dramatically driving down the cost of apps, not by taking a cut for distribution.
- 1000100_1000101 5y ago
  It's bad value for a few big actors who sell enough to be able to bulk aggregate a lot of international transactions. It's great value for most small developers, as far as I can see. Imagine you release your app, and you expect to hit a few thousands users... except those users are world-wide. Now imagine attempting to figure out how to process credit cards from 100 different countries, register your business enough to be able to file tax records for those 100 countries, actually file taxes for those 100 countries every year, etc. Sure $3,000 of your $10,000 went to Apple, Google Play or whatever, but it would have gone towards a huge number of other costs if you'd tried to go at it alone.
- CubsFan1060 5y ago
  Reality -- nobody cares. The consumer is paying $1 in that scenario no matter what. If the Apple fee goes away, then the developer is going to keep the price at $1.
  - jpambrun 5y ago
    I care. For the same price I buy CD Projekt red games on gog, and I buy games on epic store rather than steam because I know more money goes to those who did the real work.
    - CubsFan1060 5y ago
      Ok, that's a fair point. I'll say "very few people care". Epic store is an interesting example. They are losing massive amounts of money. We will see if that is sustainable or not. At least from a consumer point of view, this doesn't seem to change the price much: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/why-lower-platform-fees-dont-lead-to-lower-prices-on-the-epic-games-store/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/why-lower-platform-fe...
lvzwilson 5y ago
Some companies already do this, at least on iOS. For example, the perks you can buy on Tinder are cheaper on its webapp than on its iOS app.
socialist_coder 5y ago
In principle, yes, but in reality, you can't use a different app store or payment provider. If you buy a Google Android phone, you have the Google Play Store. That's it. Maybe you can install some other store but 99% of consumers will never do that. On Apple, you have to use the App Store. It's the only game in town. This is why its a monopoly. They could charge 50% and devs would still be forced to do it. The developers and people who complain about this just want to be able to use other payment providers in their apps. They don't want to be forced to use Google Play or Apple. Let other payment providers in so they can compete on fees, customer satisfaction, chargebacks, security, etc.

donmcronald 5y ago

They mean for the average app purchaser: $0.70 - App $0.30 - Apple Fee $1.00 - Total And I agree. The reason it’s obfuscated is because people would instantly realize it’s bad value.

SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
Isn’t Apple’s fee 15% now? However, I do agree. It should be shown to the user like this.
- gusgus01 5y ago
  Only for developers making less that 1 million in net sales per year will the fee be 15%. For every other developer, it's still 30%.
  - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
    First million is at 15% for everyone I figure?
    - wlesieutre 5y ago
      I believe that's how Google is doing it, but Apple is not
    - banana_giraffe 5y ago
      Google does a 15% progressive fee for the first $1mil. Apple sorta does the same, though once you cross the $1mil threshold, you pay a 30% cut next year on all your sales.
      - pascoej 5y ago
        Only recently in response to all this anti-trust stuff.
    - extra88 5y ago
      This article [0] says the Play Store takes 15% from the first million but Apple's store takes 30% of everything once you pass one million/year. But it also makes it clear that only a very small percentage of apps in either store make more than one million/year. Another article [1] says 98% of developers in the Apple store would be below one million/year but also that that long tail generates only 5% of the store's revenue. There are a tiny number of apps that are enormous winners, games I assume, and there's everything else. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/data-shows-how-few-google-play-developers-will-pay-the-higher-30-commission-after-policy-change/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/data-shows-how-few-google-... [1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21572302/apple-app-store-small-business-program-commission-cut-15-percent-reduction https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21572302/apple-app-store...
      - sim_card_map 5y ago
        > but Apple's store takes 30% of everything once you pass one million/year So it's much better to earn 999k instead of 1.1 million...
- smolyeet 5y ago
  If your app doesn't make over a certain amount. Large apps still have to
- donmcronald 5y ago
  > Isn’t Apple’s fee 15% now? I think both Apple and Google did that. It's a desperate attempt to avoid regulation IMO. I think both should be forced to facilitate competing app stores. There should be no mercy for them after a decade of anti-competitive price gouging.
ralph84 5y ago
Meh. For a consumer with historical context it seems like an incredible value. Apps used to cost $49.95 at Egghead, and Egghead was certainly taking a bigger cut than 30 cents. Apple fucked ISVs by dramatically driving down the cost of apps, not by taking a cut for distribution.
1000100_1000101 5y ago
It's bad value for a few big actors who sell enough to be able to bulk aggregate a lot of international transactions. It's great value for most small developers, as far as I can see. Imagine you release your app, and you expect to hit a few thousands users... except those users are world-wide. Now imagine attempting to figure out how to process credit cards from 100 different countries, register your business enough to be able to file tax records for those 100 countries, actually file taxes for those 100 countries every year, etc. Sure $3,000 of your $10,000 went to Apple, Google Play or whatever, but it would have gone towards a huge number of other costs if you'd tried to go at it alone.
CubsFan1060 5y ago
Reality -- nobody cares. The consumer is paying $1 in that scenario no matter what. If the Apple fee goes away, then the developer is going to keep the price at $1.
- jpambrun 5y ago
  I care. For the same price I buy CD Projekt red games on gog, and I buy games on epic store rather than steam because I know more money goes to those who did the real work.
  - CubsFan1060 5y ago
    Ok, that's a fair point. I'll say "very few people care". Epic store is an interesting example. They are losing massive amounts of money. We will see if that is sustainable or not. At least from a consumer point of view, this doesn't seem to change the price much: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/why-lower-platform-fees-dont-lead-to-lower-prices-on-the-epic-games-store/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/why-lower-platform-fe...

lvzwilson 5y ago

Some companies already do this, at least on iOS. For example, the perks you can buy on Tinder are cheaper on its webapp than on its iOS app.

socialist_coder 5y ago

In principle, yes, but in reality, you can't use a different app store or payment provider. If you buy a Google Android phone, you have the Google Play Store. That's it. Maybe you can install some other store but 99% of consumers will never do that. On Apple, you have to use the App Store. It's the only game in town. This is why its a monopoly. They could charge 50% and devs would still be forced to do it. The developers and people who complain about this just want to be able to use other payment providers in their apps. They don't want to be forced to use Google Play or Apple. Let other payment providers in so they can compete on fees, customer satisfaction, chargebacks, security, etc.