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I don't think the author uses the term "free rider" correctly. Apple chooses who has to pay based on whatever criteria they like. To me, those listed criteria m
by jonathanstrange 1y ago
I don't think the author uses the term "free rider" correctly. Apple chooses who has to pay based on whatever criteria they like. To me, those listed criteria make sense, for example it would make no sense to charge developers who make their apps available for free, since they would then stop publishing them in the app store and that would concern a lot of useful software.
- eviks 1y agoOr they wouldn't since they would still like to generate those $1.3T, not everything distributed for free is completely free. Moreover, they currently *are* charged to distribute, the apple developer program isn't free.
- jonathanstrange 1y agoSo the "free rider" claim was even more misleading, I suspected that but didn't want to base my criticism on a hunch. Thanks for clarifying that!
- lapcat 1y ago> So the "free rider" claim was even more misleading The Apple Developer Program is $99. Note that this is not just for the App Store but also for distribution on the Mac outside the App Store, as well as access to other developer resources. I didn't mention it because it's a drop in the bucket, totally negligible compared to the billions of dollars per year in App Store commissions that Apple collects from developers. If $99 were the only fee, then hardly any developers would complain, except perhaps hobbyists. For professional developers, and for Apple's overall revenue, $99 is practically nothing.