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I doubt apple makes a substantial amount from developers alone. Quoting [1] which is the research I believe rmah is talking about... "Global Apple App Store re

by cinbun8 14y ago

I doubt apple makes a substantial amount from developers alone. Quoting [1] which is the research I believe rmah is talking about... "Global Apple App Store revenue is set to increase to $4.9 billion in 2012, up from $2.9 billion in 2011, according to an IHS Screen Digest Mobile Analyst Commentary from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS). This means that nearly half of the revenue generated by the App Store in its five-year history will be earned this year alone." Those are some pretty strong numbers. Given that the number is projected, even with a generous error rate of +-20%, any revenue from developer fee will be eclipsed by 4.9 billion. While the author's estimate that apple generates 15% of its revenue from developers is inaccurate, it has to be said that the entry fee to get into iphone / ipad development is high. I would know since I'm currently developing a product that works across iphone / android / web. Here are our costs thus far (excluding phone-device prices ). Apple: Mac Air 1200$ Developer account 99$ DUNS number 200$ Server certificate for notifications 175$ Android: Developer account 25$ <For development - Use the mac or boot an old clunky win laptop with Win-XP on it> Web: 0$ so far Developing for apple devices is costly. For the same 1200$ that I could spend on mac air, I can get 2 powerful Win-7 laptops - ~ 500-700$ each [2]. Device fragmentation on android does require you to test on more devices, but there are services[3] that allow you to work around that problem. Besides, when netflix can release their app by testing it on a subset of 8 android devices [4], I don't see why that strategy is not good enough for others. The author does have a point, but one that should not have been expressed as a percentage of apple revenues. [1] - http://www.isuppli.com/Media-Research/News/pages/Maps-and-Passbook-in-iOS-6-Help-Propel-Apple-App-Store-Growth-in-2012.aspx http://www.isuppli.com/Media-Research/News/pages/Maps-and-Pa... [2] - http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/vostro-laptop-deals http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/vostro-laptop-deals [3] - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1852248/is-there-an-android-testing-service-i-can-use-to-give-me-real-debug-information http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1852248/is-there-an-andro... [4] - http://techblog.netflix.com/2012/03/testing-netflix-on-android.html http://techblog.netflix.com/2012/03/testing-netflix-on-andro... [EDIT] - Formatting

annon 14y ago
If you want to limit yourself to a 500-700 machine, then do that. You can buy used macs, refurb macs, mac minis, etc. There is no requirement to spend 1200 on a mac to begin development. There is no requirement to get a DUNS number to develop on the App Store. As far as a server certificate goes, there is no $175 certificate for notifications. However, if you are running a web service it would be sensible for you to acquire a SSL certificate, regardless of what platform you are developing for.
janardanyri 14y ago
All of the costs cited are rounding errors in comparison to the scarcity of good developers' time, especially developers capable of delivering product across iPhone / Android / web. Developing on "an old clunky win laptop" in particular is far from zero cost.
- fleitz 14y ago
  I always love how much developers think they can save skimping on hardware. $700 is a day worth of downtime. My Macbook Air is easily worth $4000 to me now because it broke 3 times and they turned it around each time in under 24 hours. When my windows laptop breaks im with out it for 2 weeks requiring me to purchase another one.
  - cinbun8 14y ago
    Who said anything about skimping on hardware ? My point was that you don't get the same horse power for price ratio on an apple laptop that you get from a Windows laptop. As for support it depends on your geographical location. You were able to get your mac air replaced thrice within 24 hours each time and I get similar support for my Windows laptops. It took me 4 days just to get a human being to respond to a problem I had with apple up-to-date support. Developer time is more valuable than hardware costs hands down. The horse power that you can back in return for that hardware cost varies between apple and windows.

by cinbun8 14y ago

annon 14y ago

If you want to limit yourself to a 500-700 machine, then do that. You can buy used macs, refurb macs, mac minis, etc. There is no requirement to spend 1200 on a mac to begin development. There is no requirement to get a DUNS number to develop on the App Store. As far as a server certificate goes, there is no $175 certificate for notifications. However, if you are running a web service it would be sensible for you to acquire a SSL certificate, regardless of what platform you are developing for.

janardanyri 14y ago

All of the costs cited are rounding errors in comparison to the scarcity of good developers' time, especially developers capable of delivering product across iPhone / Android / web. Developing on "an old clunky win laptop" in particular is far from zero cost.

fleitz 14y ago
I always love how much developers think they can save skimping on hardware. $700 is a day worth of downtime. My Macbook Air is easily worth $4000 to me now because it broke 3 times and they turned it around each time in under 24 hours. When my windows laptop breaks im with out it for 2 weeks requiring me to purchase another one.
- cinbun8 14y ago
  Who said anything about skimping on hardware ? My point was that you don't get the same horse power for price ratio on an apple laptop that you get from a Windows laptop. As for support it depends on your geographical location. You were able to get your mac air replaced thrice within 24 hours each time and I get similar support for my Windows laptops. It took me 4 days just to get a human being to respond to a problem I had with apple up-to-date support. Developer time is more valuable than hardware costs hands down. The horse power that you can back in return for that hardware cost varies between apple and windows.