I own an app developing company and I have experienced that the 30% cut is no longer in line with the real business value Apple is offering to the developer. In 2016 I did a customer survey for one of my apps and I asked how they got in contact with my app. Answers: ads, Google search, from a friend, ... but via the App Store was not an answer. This is worrying. The poorly implemented search and ranking algorithm in the Apple App Store is definitely playing a negative role. My feeling is that the 95% of the profits are made by some blockbusters (Pokemon, ...), but that the majority of the apps is loss making for the developer
The consequence is that I changed my business strategy. All my apps are moving to a cloud based business model. The apps are now free, but the usage of the related cloud service is not, and Apple/Google is not getting a 30% cut there. A second change is that I am gradually moving to progressive web apps (PWA), already supported on Android since last year, and most probably on iOS in 2018. PWAs look and behave like native apps, but are actually web services and don't require an app store. I must make the remark that my company does not develop games, but focuses on cloud applications the ideal playing field for PWAs, A PWA might not be a solution for games.
The "real business value" offered is the infrastructure to host and deliver apps securely to the user and payment to the developer. Advertising your app is still up to you. This is like complaining that a brick and mortar store doesn't provide you with free advertising for your product.
Right now you're leeching from the App Store infrastructure with free apps and paid cloud infrastructure. That's fine until Apple and Google decides its no longer in its business interests to let you do so.
While a Brick-n-mortar isn't responsible for advertising your product if one single store was the permitted as the sole outlet for your premium crackers but stuck them next to the floor cleaner on the bottom shelf of the darkest aisle where no one would think to look the seller would be right to complain about it IMO. I think that's the point he's making.
And that do happen with Brick n mortar store. Not only that, they could also have pretend your product was out of stock and put it off the self. I forgot to mention Apple paid their developers on time, most people would find it funny this is an advantage, but lots of big names Brick N Mortar have VERY long payments terms and poor track record.
Basically it doesn't matter how you spin it, the Apple Store is still a million times better then Brick N Motar.
Epic's CEO says App Store share is a "parasitic loss," and App Stores "aren't really doing much to help us anymore."
Meanwhile, as reported on Slashdot: "Epic's First Fortnite Installer Allowed Hackers To Covertly Download and Install Anything on Users' Android Phones, Google Researchers Say"
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Basically it doesn't matter how you spin it, the Apple Store is still a million times better then Brick N Motar.
Meanwhile, as reported on Slashdot: "Epic's First Fortnite Installer Allowed Hackers To Covertly Download and Install Anything on Users' Android Phones, Google Researchers Say"