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> A full 84 percent of the apps in the App Store pay nothing to Apple when you download or use the app. That’s not discrimination, as Spotify claims; it’s by de

> A full 84 percent of the apps in the App Store pay nothing to Apple when you download or use the app. That’s not discrimination, as Spotify claims; it’s by design This is a bald-faced lie. To develop an app for the App Store, you need to spend: 1. $100 a year on the certificate. 2. Around $500 a year on Apple hardware (amortized). This is way more than you need to develop for Microsoft, even with their official tools.

bilbo0s 1y ago
I'm thinking Spotify would shout even louder indignations if smaller App Store developers don't even have to pay the $100. But look, everyone is not gonna be happy with whatever structure Apple or the courts come up with. The courts might come up with a structure where people pay nothing unless the users use Apple payment systems to buy in-app. Guess what Spotify, you're still gonna be financing all the developers who'd rather choose to pay nothing and instead put up with the headaches and chargebacks of using payment systems outside of Apple. Spotify doesn't want to finance the rest of us? Fine, when the time comes, make that choice not to use Apple payment systems. Now you're not financing the rest of us. But you can't say, "I want to use Apple payment systems because the chargebacks are lower and people trust them more", on the one hand; and say, "but Apple should not use any of the money I generate to float infrastructure for other developers to also use their payment systems", on the other.
- cyberax 1y ago
  There's a novel way: charge app developers the costs of running the AppStore, with a reasonable profit margin on top. To make it fair, have it as a separate unit, that Apple itself has to use for internal apps.
GeekyBear 1y ago
> This is way more than you need to develop for Microsoft Windows, by default, will block apps from lesser known developers unless they shell out quite a bit more than $99 a year for an Extended Validation (EV) Code-Signing Certificate from a certificate authority that Microsoft finds acceptable. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48946680/how-to-avoid-the-windows-defender-smartscreen-prevented-an-unrecognized-app-fro https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48946680/how-to-avoid-th... Also, Mac Minis are a one time $500 purchase, and will be good enough to use for more than one year.
- cyberax 1y ago
  > Also, Mac Minis are a one time $500 purchase, and will be good enough to use for more than one year. The cheapest Mac Minis ($600, btw) are barely usable for serious development, a more reasonable one is $1000. You also need at least a couple of iOS devices for testing, which works out to ~$200 a year. And if you want a laptop, then it's even worse.

bilbo0s 1y ago

I'm thinking Spotify would shout even louder indignations if smaller App Store developers don't even have to pay the $100. But look, everyone is not gonna be happy with whatever structure Apple or the courts come up with. The courts might come up with a structure where people pay nothing unless the users use Apple payment systems to buy in-app. Guess what Spotify, you're still gonna be financing all the developers who'd rather choose to pay nothing and instead put up with the headaches and chargebacks of using payment systems outside of Apple. Spotify doesn't want to finance the rest of us? Fine, when the time comes, make that choice not to use Apple payment systems. Now you're not financing the rest of us. But you can't say, "I want to use Apple payment systems because the chargebacks are lower and people trust them more", on the one hand; and say, "but Apple should not use any of the money I generate to float infrastructure for other developers to also use their payment systems", on the other.

cyberax 1y ago
There's a novel way: charge app developers the costs of running the AppStore, with a reasonable profit margin on top. To make it fair, have it as a separate unit, that Apple itself has to use for internal apps.

GeekyBear 1y ago

> This is way more than you need to develop for Microsoft Windows, by default, will block apps from lesser known developers unless they shell out quite a bit more than $99 a year for an Extended Validation (EV) Code-Signing Certificate from a certificate authority that Microsoft finds acceptable. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48946680/how-to-avoid-the-windows-defender-smartscreen-prevented-an-unrecognized-app-fro https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48946680/how-to-avoid-th... Also, Mac Minis are a one time $500 purchase, and will be good enough to use for more than one year.

cyberax 1y ago
> Also, Mac Minis are a one time $500 purchase, and will be good enough to use for more than one year. The cheapest Mac Minis ($600, btw) are barely usable for serious development, a more reasonable one is $1000. You also need at least a couple of iOS devices for testing, which works out to ~$200 a year. And if you want a laptop, then it's even worse.