30%: The Developer’s Guide to Surviving the App Store (Rant)

If it wasn’t clear in the title, this is more of a rant than a guide.

Lately, there has been a lot of angst among Apple’s developer community over a high-profile app rejection. You know the one. I am not going to link to it or even mention it by name. They will not get more free press from me. The owner of the company is a known ravel-rouser. Making enemies and raising a stink is his self-confessed business model. That is what he has done many times with great success. If developers have a reasonable gripe against Apple, this latest outcry is a pour choice for a standard bearer.

Discontent has been a longstanding theme from App Store developers. And for years, I have not been moved by their pain. Honestly, I am still unmoved. Before going into what it is developers are angry about, I want to offer a point of view that is often overlooked:

Android

Developers can pretty much have everything they ever wanted. They just have to develop for Android. Is that so bad? Apparently so. Think about it. They must have everything they want from Android because they are not complaining about the Android Marketplace. Yet oddly enough, they are not happy at all. Isn’t Android the biggest platform in the world bar none? Aren’t they the most open? Don’t they have the least restrictive policies?

Can we just have a moment of real talk and stop pretending to make nice? The Android Market is crap! I know it. You know it. All the developers know it. And I’m guessing the customers know it too. Android is a flea market compared to the App Store being a high-volume boutique on Fifth Ave. It is the store where everyone wants to be. People feel welcome, safe, and comfortable spending lots of money.

I believe a lot of the background noise is coming from forces who want the App Store to be the same kind of dump as the Android flea market to erode one of Apple’s strongest advantages. Some of the people making the most noise about how unfair the App Store is are Android enthusiasts.

What you should know is that if Apple gave into all the demands of the developers, they would be a flea market too. If you are an iOS enthusiast, that is the last thing you should want. Here is another thing that should give you reason for pause:

Happy developers make for unhappy customers

I know there are many exceptions to this rule. But I still believe it holds up generally. If developers get everything they want, it makes for a poor customer experience. You end up with stores where people don’t want to shop. The same is true for advertisers. Happy advertisers make for unhappy customers. I doubt there are any exceptions to that one.

Think about what advertisers want. They want your attention anyway they can get it, as much as they can get it. They have no sense of boundaries and they most certainly do not respect yours. They also want your data. they want to know who you are and who you know. They want your address and moment to moment location. They want to know what you buy when you aren’t buying their products. They want more information than the IRS.

You don’t have to agree to anything. They will just take it. They will track you on the internet, your smartphone, your tablet, and anything else with a signal. Your lightbulb and doorknob are also fair game. Further, they will not tell you what they are doing. They will hide it for as long as they can get away with it. They will apologize then find another way to do it that is even sneakier.

Why am I talking so much about advertisers? Because most of the same is true for App Developers and web developers. Their free offerings are always trojan horses. Do you really think they are not getting paid? The difference is that you don’t understand the transaction. They are not interested in getting $2.99 up front. They want information about you that they can monetize for life. And they will take it anyway they can get it. You really are the product in ways that should horrify you. Oh, and by the way, Google is an advertising company.

30%

When the App Store was announced, Apple set the fee at 30%. Everyone cheered. To this day, the cost of getting your product on a store shelf is confiscatory. But developers are never happy. The drumbeat started early. 30% was too much, unfair, extortion.

The conversation you never hear from developers is what they think a fair price would be. They don’t want to go on record as suggesting any amount would be a fair price. They would make the same complaints if it was 1%. Why do I know this? Because no one is suggesting that it should be 1%. What developers want is no fee ever. They just don’t want to say that out loud lest they sound as unreasonable as they really are.

I don’t believe the real objection is about the 30%. The real objection is any%. Look at how many of them argue their case. They complain that Apple is the richest company in the world and that it is criminal for them to take money from poor developers. It quickly devolves into a sort of class warfare. Apple is rich. Therefore, they should not charge for services rendered. That is just stupid and offensive on the face of it. Shame on anyone who starts an argument that way.

Free trials, discounts, and other marketing tricks

Another major talking point for developers is that they would like to offer free trials for their apps for a limited time so that people can make an informed decision about purchasing. That sounds so customer-friendly, I’m almost on their side on this one. But remember, happy developers make for unhappy users. Let’s see why that makes developers happy. After all, the one thing we should be able to agree on is that developers are not doing it for altruistic reasons. It is not about you. It is always about them.

When computers and smartphones ship with trial software, we call it crapware. That is being generous. One of the worst things about free trials from a user perspective is they become nagware. Every time you launch the app, you are reminded that your trial is about to expire. Act quickly. If your email address is involved with the trial, that’s when the fun really starts.

The most sinister aspect of free trials is the hidden subscription. Hidden might not be the right word. But like gift cards, the hope is you will buy them and never use them. Those trials come with automatic payments after the trial is over. So you grab a free trial and then pay for it three days later after you have forgotten you even downloaded it. Not only are you out some ridiculous amount of money for a simple novelty app, you are signed up for a subscription where that money quietly gets charged to your credit card every month. How many free trials can you afford? Here is a video that explains it better:

Think of those trials as set it and forgetitware. There are little tricks like calling it a 3-day free trial, then charging after 24 hrs. In the fine print, you realize you had to cancel within the first day to get all three days free. This is the game developers want to bring to Apple’s boutique App Store. And this is the sort of thing that Make Android’s store a free market. Buyer beware. Just say no to free trials. Developers wouldn’t offer them if they didn’t think they could trick you out of more money.

Discounts are also consumer unfriendly. Sure, they sound friendly on the surface. But remember that happy developers are bad for consumers most of the time. The discount game is not as easy to play as you think. Developers might discount an app for a limited time, only, say, one day. You hear about it the next day and buy the app at full price before realizing that you didn’t get the discount. Not good.

In the world of hard goods, things are often advertised at a discount. However, when you go to buy it, the product is listed as out of stock. But while you are here, take a look at these other fine products. That is called bait and switch. A similar game can be played with digital goods.

Nasty retail games Apple allows

The worst thing that happened to the app store was the race to the bottom. Apps went from a sustainable $10 - $20 for quality apps to $0 for a terrible user experience. I used to buy games when they cost money because they were full-featured and fun. I could play them on my terms. Now, games rely on micropayments, time limits, and other mechanisms that force you to pay to enjoy the game.

My classic example is Real Racing. The first version of the game was groundbreaking. I believe it sold for $9.99 It was an insta-buy. It was a combination of arcade and sim racing at its best. Once the new model of micropayments came out, the entire game mechanic was trashed to accommodate getting the user to pay constantly to play. It went from being a fun game you could buy and play, to a slot machine you had to keep feeding. Almost every game has gone that way. I don’t play many games anymore.

In addition to micropayments, Apple allowed subscription apps. The disease spread beyond games. It is hard to find a premium word processor anymore that you don’t have to pay for on a monthly or annual basis. Subscriptions have infected every kind of app. Almost nothing you pay for on the App Store is something you can count on working without continual payments. Even podcast apps are not immune from this madness. Happy developers make for unhappy consumers.

The subscription plague is partially Apple’s fault because they wouldn’t grant another developer request. What developers have been asking for is the ability to charge for upgrades. This is the one developer request I believe would work out for everyone.

Right now, a developer puts an app on the store and cannot charge a fee for upgrading the app. They just have to continue working on the app for the life of the app and offering fixes and new features for free. That does not seem fair. Even users would gladly pay a reasonable upgrade fee from time to time if the offered upgrade is tempting. The only way the developer can get paid for upgrading the app is to make a new version of the app and charge full price for the new app. That is not good for anyone.

That said, one of the ways to make that work is to charge a reasonable price from the beginning and people will not mind paying that every upgrade cycle. They would pay $10 for a new version of an app they love. They may be hard pressed to pay $50 every cycle. Upgrade pricing is really important for expensive apps.

This is where subscriptions come in. If there is an app you like that costs $40 or more, you can be near certain that app will cost you that much per year, more if you pay monthly. Subscriptions only work for consumers when they need something expensive for a limited time. Creative Cloud for 1 or two months to do a project is a good buy. One month of word to publish a book is a good buy. But subscriptions that you have to keep around all the time can add up quickly. And consumers are just about at the end of their rope. I know I am.

Only one side of the story

There are always stories in the tech media about some developer or other getting shafted by Apple and their arbitrary App Store policies. I have long stopped shedding a tear for developers because I know I am getting only one side of a very sorted story. I used to follow those stories with great interest. I wrote for a small app review cite and even conducted an interview or two with developers.

Here’s the thing, there is too cozy a relationship between developers and the tech media. If you make friends with developers, you will be skewed in your reporting. And every major tech reporting outlet has cozy developer relationships. It is like the political press getting cozy with politicians. When that happens, the reporting is less reliable. The reason developers have such a large megaphone to air grievances is because they are friends with the press who have stopped digging for both sides of the story and side with their developer friends. You are not getting the whole story.

There is usually a good reason behind every App Store rejection. You just don’t hear about it because Apple usually doesn’t run to the media to defend themselves. They have to behave more professionally than developers. And because Apple is a huge corporation who doesn’t speak up for themselves, they are easily painted as the bad guys in every dispute.

Whenever we do get Apple’s side of the story, I tend to agree with Apple almost every time. I remember a few years ago, there was an issue with an app from a Russian developer. Everyone was quick to judge Apple. The case seemed open and shut. That is, until we discovered more details about the developer. He had accounts under other names and suspicious banking under someone else’s name. The list of irregularities was long and sorted.

By the time those other details surfaced, the developer had already gained the sympathy of the community and many just dismissed the disconfirming information. The trial of public opinion was already over. No one wanted to be inconvenienced by the facts. There have been many such situations.

Developers are always trying to get away with something. They feel like it is their job to thwart the rules and safeguards like they do on other platforms. They are constantly using private APIs knowing that Apple forbids the use of them. Every developer thinks they have a good excuse for why the rules shouldn’t apply to them.

Apple is fighting this battle behind the scenes all day, every day. They catch most of the bad stuff developers try to pass off. They miss some. But they do a fantastic job of holding the line. As a user, I want Apple to continue that fight. People need to push past the PR bullshit and realize that developers by the thousands are trying to make users’ lives miserable everyday. The last thing a user should want is for the average developer to get away with everything they want to do on your device. If, however, you think developers should be unleashed to do whatever they want, you are going to love Android.

Conclusion: Let Apple be Apple

I’m glad Android exists. I want no part of it. But I am glad it exists. There is an alternative to Apple’s walled garden. If developers were doing so well there, they wouldn’t be trying to beat down Apple’s door. If you want iOS to become Android, side with developers. If you want Apple to be Apple, then you should be happy that developers are upset. The good ones like James Thomson find a way. The bad ones find a pet pundit. I’m never going to be one of those. If I bother writing about such disputes when they go public, you can be sure I will seek out both sides of the story.

David Johnson