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As a developer (just $1,000 MRR from App Store) - I don't care about 30% fee (actually 15% in my case because of Small Business Program). The only other develop

As a developer (just $1,000 MRR from App Store) - I don't care about 30% fee (actually 15% in my case because of Small Business Program). The only other developers that are mad are other large corporations, that are also fighting for profit. For me, as an indie developer - I love that Apple takes care of many things for me on the App Store side. I am ok with sharing my revenue with them. I hate the App Store for other reasons, but not the 15-30% share. Apple became too big. Other companies will sue them for one reason or another. Whatever they do - other companies will sue them.

StewardMcOy 2y ago
I'm a slammer developer in a similar boat, and while I still think the 15% SPP fee is too high, it's not what really bothers me about being in the App Store. It's the Kafkaesque app review process and the inversion of power between platform holders and third-party developers. I remember a time when I sold my software directly to users over the web. It certainly didn't cost me 15% of my revenue to process payments and refunds, but I'm actually fine paying Apple a few extra percent to cake care of that internationally. Back in those days, the prevailing wisdom was that platforms competed for third-party devs in order to make their platforms useful for their users and increase market share. If you read the arguments around the new EU rules for platforms, there's a lot of talk about the platform holders' "rights" to "monetize their IP" or similar language. Apple says it. Google says it. Gruber and other influencers parrot it. I hate it. Developing the OS isn't free, but the revenue from end users more than pays for it. Developing the developer tools isn't free, but the $99/year revenue from developers more than pays for it. Combined, they probably more than pay for development and hosting of the App Store. I get that Apple has no shortage of people wanting to develop for their platform, so they don't need to compete for third-party developers anymore. I don't like it, but I understand it. I just wish they wouldn't try to rent-seek on top of it. I wish app review weren't so complicated, self-serving, inconsistent, and useless. Apple likes to publish statistics on how many fraud apps they keep off the App Store, but in my opinion, it still has far too much trash and scam apps to argue that app review works well for anyone but Apple.
pornel 2y ago
This is somewhat tautological, because the AppStore is necessarily filtered down to businesses that can exist within this fee structure. The cut is 15-30% of revenue, rather than profit, so for lower-margin businesses Apple's cut can be larger than their own profits. And I care as a user, because developers aren't subsidizing Apple – this fee is ultimately paid by me, and I don't have much choice outside the Google-Apple duopoly.
zmmmmm 2y ago
This eternal discussion gets rehashed over and over again. It's great that you like it. It wouldn't be an issue if it was optional. Then the people who like it could have it and the people who don't could go somewhere else and get what they want. Nobody is trying to take away your cheese.

StewardMcOy 2y ago

I'm a slammer developer in a similar boat, and while I still think the 15% SPP fee is too high, it's not what really bothers me about being in the App Store. It's the Kafkaesque app review process and the inversion of power between platform holders and third-party developers. I remember a time when I sold my software directly to users over the web. It certainly didn't cost me 15% of my revenue to process payments and refunds, but I'm actually fine paying Apple a few extra percent to cake care of that internationally. Back in those days, the prevailing wisdom was that platforms competed for third-party devs in order to make their platforms useful for their users and increase market share. If you read the arguments around the new EU rules for platforms, there's a lot of talk about the platform holders' "rights" to "monetize their IP" or similar language. Apple says it. Google says it. Gruber and other influencers parrot it. I hate it. Developing the OS isn't free, but the revenue from end users more than pays for it. Developing the developer tools isn't free, but the $99/year revenue from developers more than pays for it. Combined, they probably more than pay for development and hosting of the App Store. I get that Apple has no shortage of people wanting to develop for their platform, so they don't need to compete for third-party developers anymore. I don't like it, but I understand it. I just wish they wouldn't try to rent-seek on top of it. I wish app review weren't so complicated, self-serving, inconsistent, and useless. Apple likes to publish statistics on how many fraud apps they keep off the App Store, but in my opinion, it still has far too much trash and scam apps to argue that app review works well for anyone but Apple.

pornel 2y ago

This is somewhat tautological, because the AppStore is necessarily filtered down to businesses that can exist within this fee structure. The cut is 15-30% of revenue, rather than profit, so for lower-margin businesses Apple's cut can be larger than their own profits. And I care as a user, because developers aren't subsidizing Apple – this fee is ultimately paid by me, and I don't have much choice outside the Google-Apple duopoly.

zmmmmm 2y ago

This eternal discussion gets rehashed over and over again. It's great that you like it. It wouldn't be an issue if it was optional. Then the people who like it could have it and the people who don't could go somewhere else and get what they want. Nobody is trying to take away your cheese.