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> real solution is probably something regulatory requiring Microsoft and Apple to run a basic store at cost "At cost" for digital stores run well* appears to b
by Terretta 4y ago
> real solution is probably something regulatory requiring Microsoft and Apple to run a basic store at cost
"At cost" for digital stores run well* appears to be between 12% and 18% depending how readily end users can unsubscribe or how easily they can end up interacting with a human for a support, since it costs more to be user friendly. Stores charging less, e.g. 8%, have processing billed separately, generally adds back up to 12% or more.
Relative to that, keep in mind Apple's 30% in the first year drops to 15% in the second, and 85% of apps are hosted/delivered free.
* "Well" as defined by end user, not by developer.
- acdha 4y agoYes, getting that balance right is tricky since there isn't a precise way to say how much additional features are worth to everyone. It could be low-cost if the service was just publisher ID verification and PKI, but then you'd see a lot of bottom feeders trying to stay just below the threshold where they'd get their signing key revoked. That might still be worthwhile if the idea was something like allowing your computer to have a policy saying it'll only run signed binaries but the default assumption is that most people should stick to the higher-margin more curated App Store since that would still make it more expensive to run malware / adware campaigns if you had to burn a business identity as each one was discovered.