4 ms·

I think it's a shame that you need to pay Apple $100/year to put a free game on their app store. It seems like some sort of special exception for open source ap

by thurn 14y ago

I think it's a shame that you need to pay Apple $100/year to put a free game on their app store. It seems like some sort of special exception for open source apps would be reasonable.

foobar2k 14y ago
I completely agree, huge barrier to entry.
- jayfuerstenberg 14y ago
  The bigger financial barrier to entry is buying a Mac and iPhone (for those who don't own these). After that, $99 is not a big sacrifice and you quickly recuperate your money even if you sell your app for 99¢. I am both an iOS and Mac developer ($99 x 2 per year) and I'm in the black and then some with a couple of apps sold between 99¢ and $2.99.
  - verelo 14y ago
    Complete agree, also the idea of self hosting content in order to save a few $ is really not something we can ever expect - nor should we ask for it IMO. One of the best features of the app store is that from the consumers perspective its smooth, reliable and just works. Having lots of "cheap" app developers trying to save $100 / yr by hosting their app bin's themselves could results in an unreliable market place that ultimately drives people away from it.
- cocoflunchy 14y ago
  Actually I think that's exactly the point... it somewhat limits the amount of crappy apps that could get to the approval stage.
ihuman 14y ago
To play devil's advocate: Apple hosts your app, (sometimes) promotes your app, handels updating, has good uptime, etc.
- biafra 14y ago
  And you have no choice but to sell through their shop.
- aptwebapps 14y ago
  They also have to screen it every time you update it.
jayfuerstenberg 14y ago
It would be nice if iOS developers could distribute apps on their own the way Mac app developers always have, at no cost to Apple. But if Apple is hosting an app on their CDN and listing it in their DB they'd be losing money on the amount of work involved for handling all the free apps.
gurkendoktor 14y ago
It would be enough if they allowed e.g. all github users to upload their apps to a shared "github community" vendor - github would gladly take the $99 hit for the publicity, and everybody wins.

by thurn 14y ago

I think it's a shame that you need to pay Apple $100/year to put a free game on their app store. It seems like some sort of special exception for open source apps would be reasonable.

foobar2k 14y ago

I completely agree, huge barrier to entry.

jayfuerstenberg 14y ago
The bigger financial barrier to entry is buying a Mac and iPhone (for those who don't own these). After that, $99 is not a big sacrifice and you quickly recuperate your money even if you sell your app for 99¢. I am both an iOS and Mac developer ($99 x 2 per year) and I'm in the black and then some with a couple of apps sold between 99¢ and $2.99.
- verelo 14y ago
  Complete agree, also the idea of self hosting content in order to save a few $ is really not something we can ever expect - nor should we ask for it IMO. One of the best features of the app store is that from the consumers perspective its smooth, reliable and just works. Having lots of "cheap" app developers trying to save $100 / yr by hosting their app bin's themselves could results in an unreliable market place that ultimately drives people away from it.
cocoflunchy 14y ago
Actually I think that's exactly the point... it somewhat limits the amount of crappy apps that could get to the approval stage.

ihuman 14y ago

To play devil's advocate: Apple hosts your app, (sometimes) promotes your app, handels updating, has good uptime, etc.

biafra 14y ago
And you have no choice but to sell through their shop.
aptwebapps 14y ago
They also have to screen it every time you update it.

jayfuerstenberg 14y ago

It would be nice if iOS developers could distribute apps on their own the way Mac app developers always have, at no cost to Apple. But if Apple is hosting an app on their CDN and listing it in their DB they'd be losing money on the amount of work involved for handling all the free apps.

gurkendoktor 14y ago

It would be enough if they allowed e.g. all github users to upload their apps to a shared "github community" vendor - github would gladly take the $99 hit for the publicity, and everybody wins.