Quote:
Originally Posted by Russic
I know I'm going to knock your socks off here, but I'm going to disagree.
I really don't see how it's evil exactly. Evil in my eyes would be closing down the platform so apps can only be sold via this method. As of right now nothing has really changed ... developers are more than welcome to continue on with whatever they've been doing. If they want to have their app in the app store and generate more sales by doing essentially nothing that's up to them. I do suppose you could make the argument that if you have an app on your website and you have the same app on the app store, I as a consumer am going to go the route that screws you 30% for my convenience. On the other side of that coin though, if you only have your app on your site, I may be inclined to just overlook your app completely in favor of an app store alternative.
It isn't like apple has done absolutely nothing here. Developing the store and managing it would take resources. Of course they'll make metric sh*t-tons of money, but it's not exactly like they are providing no service whatsoever and just taking 30%.
The developers I've heard speak on the subject by and large think it's a good thing. There are obvious complaints, but for the most part everybody wants in. The most interesting opinion I heard was that one guy was concerned his presence in the app store would generate too many sales and he wouldn't be able to effectively manage his client load (he claimed 90% of his workload was helping people with issues and he rightfully felt that was imperative to his business model).
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My opinion is that the ROI is massively in favour of Apple here. Apple stole the app store idea from the original jailbreakers, implemented it really well, and now they don't really have that much work to do to bring in iPad apps or OS X apps. And yes, I understand that they aren't cornering the market, but I still think they're trying to become the defacto source of OS X applications, where everyone goes to in the first place, and they get a 30% cut. I just don't think they've done enough to warrant that much of a cut.