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Apples profit from App store sales are pretty minuscule when compared with the profit they generate by device sales: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-app-st

Apples profit from App store sales are pretty minuscule when compared with the profit they generate by device sales: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-app-store-economics-average-paid-app-sale-price-goes-for-1-44/52154 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-app-store-economics-ave... http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-apples-gross-profit-per-product-2012-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-apples-gross... $538 million from app sales vs ~$60 billion from iphone sales and another ~$10 billion from ipad sales. I think the motivation for the app store is pretty clear based on that. I'm not sure what you are basing your claim that Twitter would collapse without developers on, they manage their own in house Twitter clients now. You'll find that most users outside our little YC echo chamber use a) twitter.com b) one of the official Twitter clients

pytrin 14y ago
I really don't understand what you're saying. Are you denying how crucial the apps to the sales of the devices? do you think they could sell without the apps? in addition, do you think apple doesn't care about 500M$ in profits? Also, are you saying that the twitter API and 3rd party apps have nothing to do with the success of twitter? I didn't say collapse, I said they would feel it strongly. Not sure what is your point, really.
- rimantas 14y ago
  Just recall the first iPhone: its presentation was met with a lot of scepticism, it was very limited feature wise, it had no apps ecosystem and still was a huge success.
- greghinch 14y ago
  My point isn't that Apple doesn't care about the money it makes from the app store, my point is that Apple has a vested monetary interest in keeping developers around going forward. iPhone sales pre-app store were pretty small; the app store drives a lot of their business. Twitter, on the other hand, has no business interest in developers going forward. It's true they may not have gotten where they are without third party devs, but that need is gone now; they can move forward without them. You may lament that as being cruel in some manner, but that's business my friend. Twitter isn't going to collapse because they cut off third parties.

pytrin 14y ago

I really don't understand what you're saying. Are you denying how crucial the apps to the sales of the devices? do you think they could sell without the apps? in addition, do you think apple doesn't care about 500M$ in profits? Also, are you saying that the twitter API and 3rd party apps have nothing to do with the success of twitter? I didn't say collapse, I said they would feel it strongly. Not sure what is your point, really.

rimantas 14y ago
Just recall the first iPhone: its presentation was met with a lot of scepticism, it was very limited feature wise, it had no apps ecosystem and still was a huge success.
greghinch 14y ago
My point isn't that Apple doesn't care about the money it makes from the app store, my point is that Apple has a vested monetary interest in keeping developers around going forward. iPhone sales pre-app store were pretty small; the app store drives a lot of their business. Twitter, on the other hand, has no business interest in developers going forward. It's true they may not have gotten where they are without third party devs, but that need is gone now; they can move forward without them. You may lament that as being cruel in some manner, but that's business my friend. Twitter isn't going to collapse because they cut off third parties.