mwhite

sflocal said:

AppleInsider said:

"Forcing users to use the App Store instead of Dapps (websites), or IAP instead of crypto payments, reminds me of what Microsoft did back in the day (forcing users to use IE if you were on Windows) which led to all their antitrust issues," Armstrongs says.

Fucking idiot.  Microsoft were telling outside computer manufacturers making their own hardware and forcing its will on them.

Apple sells to no one and makes the entire widget so what Apple wants to do on its own hardware and software is no one else's business.  If this clown really believes it's the same thing then I would love to sell a bridge to him.

These whiners are really coming out of the woodwork.  

What these people are realizing is that the Android model makes them little to no money, so they're going after the closed system with loyal users that actually spend money.

Assholes.

22july2013 said:

Rayz2016 said:

Sorry, Apple, but if the bag check is compulsory then you have to pay the workers for complying. 

Do workers have to be paid for the time it takes them to walk from the front door of their very large corporate HQ building to their office desk? I wouldn’t think so. And if the bag check occurs at the main entrance, then that I suspect that that wouldn’t be payable time either. But I am neither a lawyer nor American. 

Naiyas said:

CheeseFreeze said:

quench said:

So Epic agreed to the contract because they know Apple has an enormous base of customers. Then epic got greedy and thought they could be dishonorable and cheat the company (Apple) that helped them become a worldwide sensation.
epic you suck for your dishonesty, lying to customers when you blamed Apple for the situation that you forced onto itself, stealing from the company that made you extremely wealthy. 

I don’t care what quality games you produce, I will not support a greedy, lying, stealing company ever again.
I'm done with you epic!

And you don’t think Apple is greedy? Charging 500% of the retail price for storage in your new iMac, or soldering the SSD in your motherboard because then you’ll buy a new iMac sooner when it dies? And still 30% in 2020 on app purchases, while the vast majority of developers are drowning and disappearing in the offerings of millions of apps? 

This is not 2009 when your app actually was discoverable on the App Store. 30% for essentially hosting your game and not getting any service out of Apple for anything else (except MAYBE getting your game on their release stream - discoverable for what, like, 3 days maybe?), and then having to PAY for advertisements on the App Store on top the 30%... That is killing developers. 

Do you know how much devs are SPENDING and risking before that game launches? Do you have any idea about the economics of it all? I guess you don’t. 

Well, I do, I have released over 40 games on the App Store - both licensed IP’s and games for marketing purposes, some successful and some not, and I can tell you the App Store today is a shit show because of the sheer amount of content. 

Top tier earners keep earning because they BUY their users with their earnings. Hundreds thousands per day. You have no chance of turning the tides in your favor. It’s a mess.

Epic is one of the exceptions - they are incredibly successful - but they are fighting the PRINCIPLE here and that’s not just for themselves. They don’t need Apple’s iOS revenue. They want CHANGE. Their philosophy in revenue sharing with developers for their own tools is much more developer friendly. They are much more values driven here. Apple is in fact the greedy one here. It’s not a coincidence they reaches a 2 trillion market cap here!

There’s several examples of Apple being greedy.
Stop defending Apple like it’s some exception to the rule and that it’s some kind of amazing company that is out there to help developers rich. They don’t care about that. They care about their own valuation.    

As a developer myself, admittedly not for games, I’m very familiar with the problems the App Store has for developers, and the thousands of dollars it takes to build an app that will attract buyers. But to promote that this “battle” between Epic and Apple will help us is disingenuous.

1. Epic want to have their own store on iOS.
2. Epic want to have their own store on iPadOS.
3. Epic want to have their own store on tvOS.

Thats it.

Epic don’t care about the 30% fee level, which for us is the bigger concern as it strips away a large chunk of our margin. They also don’t care about the additional ad spend we feel we have to do to promote our apps in the App Store as they charge for the same thing in their store.

This Epic vs Apple battle will not help us until it transitions to the fee level which, I agree with you, is probably a little high now given the changes in the marketplace over the last decade. But we signed up to the terms knowing full well what the cost was going to be so the argument isn’t a legal one.

The argument is an economic one. Can we take our apps out of the App Store and survive on non-Apple device revenue? You know, earning our living in a market free-for-all like the Android space is and is how Epic wants the Apple space to be. THAT is how developers force Apple’s hand on the 30% by abandoning the platform, but it won’t happen.

My revenue/profit stream mix may not be reflective of yours (or any other developers) and it is definitely not like Epics, but the App Store distribution is close to 65% of my revenue, and 80% of my profits. I literally can not afford not to be in the App Store with its 30/15 fee as I don’t have the time or resource depth to build out myself what I get for being in the App Store. Having more stores may create market forces to bring the headline fee cut down, but there are other costs you get hit with that mean the overall costs for each platform or store distribution channel are far higher than the headline price appears.

I’d rather focus my limited time (being a developer is not my main job) improving my apps rather than building out distribution and payment systems I’m afraid.

But that is just my own opinion based on my own situation and Epics push for an open free-for-all space in the Apple iOS based platform is not one that will help me at all.