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[chas_m]

I rest my case. This first sentence from Bombich says it all. And in case someone thinks (not mentioning any names) that a 30% cut is not substantial, then they have never been in business for themselves.

One last time. I have discussed this with Mike himself. You're incorrect on this being about the 30 percent as you seem to be implying (if you're implying something else, I missed it).

 

[chas_m]

30% is most certainly substantial.

Nope, not in retail.

This is why companies like Paypal or Square charge a fraction of that for financial transactions.

Has absolutely nothing to do with distribution, which is what we're talking about. Their percentage is in line with their industry [payment handling], around two percent.

Again, we're talking about distributors, though the App Stores fulfill multiple roles far beyond what distributors do in retail. Go talk to a record store owner, a bookstore owner, a coffeeshop owner, ask them what portion of their expenses go to their distributors.

Having had to deal with Apple's sometimes draconian rules around submission and rule conformity (see here), I can certainly attest to the frustrations of having to deal with the rules.

I'm not disagreeing that Apple has strict rules and that some developers don't want to deal with those (see OnyX for an example of this). I'm saying that some people here don't appear to have much understanding of how retail works, what distributors do, and why very few companies have an issue with Apple's (Google's, Amazon's, MS) percentage.

Bottom line: if 30 percent was grossly out of line compared to what they could do DIY, why would ANY developer use these services? ANSWER: because it is in fact in line with or cheaper than going DIY. It costs money to bring a product to market. A lot of money.

 

[vansmith]

Nope, not in retail.

Yes it is, however you cut it.

Again, we're talking about distributors, though the App Stores fulfill multiple roles far beyond what distributors do in retail. Go talk to a record store owner, a bookstore owner, a coffeeshop owner, ask them what portion of their expenses go to their distributors.

Distributors absolutely get a portion of a seller's revenue but I can't imagine that it's as high as 30% or if it is, I imagine that it's not as high relative to the distribution costs (digital stores cost very little relatively speaking for the purposes of hosting and marketing). Add to that the 30% cut that Apple takes for in-app purchases (source) and you've got a model that charges more for services that it probably should.

Bottom line: if 30 percent was grossly out of line compared to what they could do DIY, why would ANY developer use these services? ANSWER: because it is in fact in line with or cheaper than going DIY. It costs money to bring a product to market. A lot of money.

I suppose developers could use one of the other app stores for iOS...

 

[MacInWin]

My wife runs a home business. She sells product over the Internet. Her wholesale costs (what she pays for the product) is about 50% of what she ultimately sells it for. She has other operating expenses, (labor, packaging, processing, shipping, spoilage, etc), that result in about 10% net profit overall. If you think of the Apple distribution in the same way, that they are buying product from the creator to sell to the public, the 30% is actually well below that typical of physical product. Now in my wife's case, she has to stand behind the product, not the wholesaler who sells to her, so in Apple's case they are transferring that support to the developer, which may be part of the reason that Apple's cut is only 30% and not higher.

 

[stereoscopic]

Think I am going to go with the app store. All the other sites have Mac keeper.

 

[pm-r]

Think I am going to go with the app store. All the other sites have Mac keeper.

Don't be too surprised that you won't find Safari AdBlock etc. there so you'll keep getting the malware crud popping up.

 

[MacInWin]

You don't really need any "store" but the App store, but some developers don't use the App Store to sell their products. Carbon Copy Cloner is one of those products. In those cases you will have to get the product from a source you can trust. Normally the developer site is the best place to go, e.g., Bombich.com for CCC.

Also, MacKeeper advertises EVERYWHERE, so just because you see an ad for MacKeeper at a site doesn't mean it's somehow malicious. One such site is speedtest.net, where MacKeeper shows up 1 in 3 visits for me. it's just advertising.