<story><title>Apple&apos;s 15% Deflection Tactic</title><url>https://www.johnluxford.com/blog/apples-15-percent-deflection-tactic/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>read_if_gay_</author><text>&amp;gt; $100 will buy a _ton_ of hosting&lt;p&gt;It’s not just about hosting, they also provide basically the entire software stack you’re using. Pricing that is difficult but I don’t think it should be disregarded.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; but can you even name one example in the past 5 years (literally about half the life of the ecosystem) where the App Store promoted an indie developer into success?&lt;p&gt;There are tons of apps that got popular due to App Store editors choosing to promote them. For example, getting App of the Day nets you a 1700% boost in downloads: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;24&amp;#x2F;apples-app-of-the-day-featuring-boosts-downloads-by-1747-games-by-792&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;24&amp;#x2F;apples-app-of-the-day-feat...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>callalex</author><text>It’s funny how, as someone who builds cloud services, I thought your statement was going in the opposite direction until the end. $100 will buy a _ton_ of hosting that is more than adequate to run most indie app downloads for a year.&lt;p&gt;The counterpoint to my claim which you stated is that the App Store also provides reach and marketing, which are quite pricey. I agree that they are expensive services, but can you even name one example in the past 5 years (literally about half the life of the ecosystem) where the App Store promoted an indie developer into success?</text></item><item><author>st3fan</author><text>I have mixed feelings about this ... the yearly fee is $100 - i feel that is very much out of balance with what you get back in terms of cloud services, distribution, marketing, reach, etc.&lt;p&gt;The danger of saying &amp;#x27;the developer membership should account for that&amp;#x27; is that they will actually run the numbers and come back with MUCH higher yearly fees that simply push many small devs out.</text></item><item><author>matsemann</author><text>&lt;i&gt;but you pay for the distribution &amp;#x2F; tools &amp;#x2F; OS etc&lt;/i&gt; is a common sentiment I see here. No, the yearly fee should pay for that, and the user for the OS. And anyways, what if I don&amp;#x27;t want to, why cant I distribute it myself?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ksec</author><text>&amp;gt;It’s not just about hosting, they also provide basically the entire software stack you’re using. Pricing that is difficult but I don’t think it should be disregarded.&lt;p&gt;The entire Software stack are included in the iPhone purchase price, and as of 2018 they are included in Apple&amp;#x27;s Services revenue on a per unit cost including but not limited to OS, Siri and Maps.&lt;p&gt;The software stack argument makes sense in consoles where they are selling at cost or barely break even from a BOM &amp;#x2F; Hardware perspective. But Apple is making industry leading profit margin on all front. So Apple is double dipping, as Apple like to call it in the case against Qualcomm.</text></comment>
<story><title>Apple&apos;s 15% Deflection Tactic</title><url>https://www.johnluxford.com/blog/apples-15-percent-deflection-tactic/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>read_if_gay_</author><text>&amp;gt; $100 will buy a _ton_ of hosting&lt;p&gt;It’s not just about hosting, they also provide basically the entire software stack you’re using. Pricing that is difficult but I don’t think it should be disregarded.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; but can you even name one example in the past 5 years (literally about half the life of the ecosystem) where the App Store promoted an indie developer into success?&lt;p&gt;There are tons of apps that got popular due to App Store editors choosing to promote them. For example, getting App of the Day nets you a 1700% boost in downloads: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;24&amp;#x2F;apples-app-of-the-day-featuring-boosts-downloads-by-1747-games-by-792&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;24&amp;#x2F;apples-app-of-the-day-feat...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>callalex</author><text>It’s funny how, as someone who builds cloud services, I thought your statement was going in the opposite direction until the end. $100 will buy a _ton_ of hosting that is more than adequate to run most indie app downloads for a year.&lt;p&gt;The counterpoint to my claim which you stated is that the App Store also provides reach and marketing, which are quite pricey. I agree that they are expensive services, but can you even name one example in the past 5 years (literally about half the life of the ecosystem) where the App Store promoted an indie developer into success?</text></item><item><author>st3fan</author><text>I have mixed feelings about this ... the yearly fee is $100 - i feel that is very much out of balance with what you get back in terms of cloud services, distribution, marketing, reach, etc.&lt;p&gt;The danger of saying &amp;#x27;the developer membership should account for that&amp;#x27; is that they will actually run the numbers and come back with MUCH higher yearly fees that simply push many small devs out.</text></item><item><author>matsemann</author><text>&lt;i&gt;but you pay for the distribution &amp;#x2F; tools &amp;#x2F; OS etc&lt;/i&gt; is a common sentiment I see here. No, the yearly fee should pay for that, and the user for the OS. And anyways, what if I don&amp;#x27;t want to, why cant I distribute it myself?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tushonka</author><text>&amp;gt; It’s not just about hosting, they also provide basically the entire software stack you’re using. Pricing that is difficult but I don’t think it should be disregarded.&lt;p&gt;What if I don&amp;#x27;t want to use their &amp;quot;software stack&amp;quot;? Frankly, as developer, I&amp;#x27;d rather spend my time developing than learning Apple specific ecosystem. Heck, React Native and Flutter do me just fine. Develop once and run everywhere.&lt;p&gt;In the end what does that $99&amp;#x2F;year license get me? A fancy certificate to publish on their only app store?</text></comment>