Businesses don't make themselves cheaper for consumers even if they get a chance to cut their overhead. I just don't see businesses ever do that. Profits "rise" and they circle-jerk about how great they're doing.
I'm more interested in getting access to FOSS, indie apps, and apps that Apple is too afraid to be associated with, such as emulators and apps that feature adult content.
This article seems like Apple had to sign off on it before it was published. Having multiple stores from which to choose will certainly lead to lower prices. The best example of this is gaming. Closed systems of digital purchases like Xbox or Nintendo Switch stores almost always have higher prices than the exact same game on PC. Of course on PC I can buy from the ubiquitous Steam, the Microsoft store, Epic, GOG, UBI, EA, itch.io and others. If PC were like an iPhone I would only be able to buy from Microsoft and MS could demand a cut of every game sold outside of their walled garden.
The fact this writer claims developers would be nothing without Apple is laughable. If Apple closed up shop tomorrow we'd still want and use apps. Apple is not the reason we use apps, they are only a platform that can run the apps we already use.
They mean the handset price will go up, since Apple will no longer be able to suck as much app store money from you
Though I don't expect many people to take advantage of their new freedom - look at the number of Android users who have ever side loaded apps, or used a store which didn't come with their phone
You might not like the 27% cut, but that’s only fair, and I explaind this time and again about Apple apps and services. Like iMessage, the App Store is a proprietary Apple technology.
Yes, it’s a storefront that makes apps available on iPhones. And the iPhone would be worthless without them. But the apps themselves and the revenue streams they generate for developers would not exist without the iPhone, iOS, the infrastructure that supports them, and the years of development Apple has put in. All of that cost money to make, and Apple is now just capitalizing on all that.
Anyone in Apple’s place would do the same thing. And indeed, other marketplaces have similar commissions.
WTF kinda bullshit is this? If there was literally any other way to install an app I would agree, but there's not.
Yes, it costs money to run the app store. Probably about 1% of that 27% would cover it.
Yes, it costs money to build iphones and iOS, but Apple is not a charity. They don't hand them out at the mall. They charge exorbitant prices for them.
If you are a developer, what right does Apple have to seeing your finances for all purchases made in the app that they sold on their store?
It's a commission for sales that came from the app, meaning from Apple's platform, where they have roughly one billion above-average income users with a reputation for buying apps and subscriptions.
It's also worth keeping in mind that there are different ways of monetizing platforms, none of which are necessarily morally better or worse than the other. Microsoft's IDE, Visual Studio, is $45 or $250 per user per month (so $4500 annually for a team of ten). Xcode, Apple's IDE, is free. A business can offer its apps on the App Store, which also serves the files, for a grand total of $99/year.
