Comments on: iPhone SDK

By: jay

jay — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:37:47 +0000

Yeah, I think the $99 fee is ANNUAL, which makes me mad. I wish it was just a one-time fee....

By: Nat

Nat — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:32:07 +0000

Deric Horn backs up the two incidents assertion: http://twitter.com/DericHorn/statuses/767734983

That makes me wonder if the $99 fee is annual. I haven't seen an indication along those lines, but in the past Apple's only bundled tech support incidents (which expire after a year) with annual memberships.

Apple's 30% cut is an interesting deal to my thinking because it looks like the only way, short of a jailbreak, to put software on the device. If a developer sets a price, however low, they'll have something akin to the cryptographic muscle behind Apple's contracts with the music labels equating each distribution with a sale. The impact on software pricing, and developer revenue, could be far-reaching.

I agree that 30% seems big enough to show up on Apple's bottom line, but you can't equate the iPhone software ecosystem they're creating to VersionTracker's informational-on-a-good-day listings.

By: Jon H

Jon H — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:53:49 +0000

Michael wrote: " Your $99 probably allows you to buy technical support incidents for $195 each."

No, you get two incidents.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:02:22 +0000

Jesper's Take

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:31:27 +0000

Patrick: I doubt you would find a developer who thinks those things would take up 30% of the time. They can be automated. If you're spending a lot of time on that stuff, you're doing something wrong. Anyway, I'm not saying it's a bad deal; I'm saying that Apple will do more than break even.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:21:48 +0000

Like others, I have to disagree with the first point. Download hosting, credit card processing, automatic updates and let's not forget app digital signing, which will handle all the license authentication and prevent (or at least minimize) piracy. It seems like all those things would take up roughly 30% of the developers time, so 30% seems fair to me.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:07:36 +0000

RLH: I don't think you get free tech support from Apple. It's probably like the Mac developer program. Your $99 probably allows you to buy technical support incidents for $195 each.

By: RLH

RLH — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:01:45 +0000

But that $99 up front is getting you tech support from Apple too. Use that once or twice and Apple is losing money.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:15:32 +0000

Erik: The free apps are still paying Apple $99 up front. That buys a lot of bandwidth these days.

By: Erik J. Barzeski

Erik J. Barzeski — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:53:54 +0000

Also, I think Apple gets 30% of music sales. On single tracks, that ends up being about a nickel of profit, what with minimum charges.

Plus, the developers who are making money are subsidizing those who choose to release free iP* applications. That further cuts down on the profit Apple's making.

30% seems fair to me. Obviously we'd be happier if it was 10%, or 20%, or even 29%... but 30% seems fair.