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iOS $99 for app store renewal!?!?!?!

A

abdm

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 30, 2004
39
0
Hi Guys,

Is it me or are other people annoyed about this? When I signed up for the developer program I assumed it would be $99 to join and thats it. Now i'm being hit up for another $99 for next year. All I do is develop free applications to help their platform and they are asking me for $99 a year. This is ridiculous in my eyes, I'm just really annoyed that I have to shell out another $99 this year and I'm making nothing in return!!!! In fact, Apple is benefiting from us making free apps as it promotes their platform!!! Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy releasing free apps to the community, but why should this cost me money!?!?!?!

Curious on other people's thoughts...
 
I didn't know it was an annual fee but I am unsure how you're not making money. Even people making free apps are making money mainly through ads I thought.

Why not develop an app that will cover the cost of the annual developer's fee?

On a side note, and not aimed to you, but maybe if developers of free apps aren't making money but are being asked to pay the $99 again, maybe this will filter out those ones making super lame apps that do nothing but clutter the store.


dukebound85 said:
it has always been understood that its 99/year
Click to expand...

Clearly not by all. Blankets and statements don't mix.
 
think of the developer fee as an investment. a safe investment. if you start selling your current app for 99¢ it will be difficult for you not to make your money back within a year, regardless of its usefulness or design. 99¢ practically is nothing, but no one is forced to pay for your app. for those users who don't want to pay there are easy alternatives (jailbreak, cydia). there are no victims here, except maybe you for choosing to not receive any return on your investment.
 
$99 per year is too low

With over 70,000 apps already in the store, and tons of amateur junk apps as well, the current annual developer fee is probably too low. Even free apps are taking a long time to be reviewed. Apple should charge a bit more, and use the extra income to hire more app review staff to speed up the review process, or at least improve developer communication.

You could always try and cover your developer fee by pricing one of your apps at $0.99 until you sell 143 copies, and then make it free again. (Although you may have to wait a year or so to get paid if you don't make at least $250 in one financial region.)

But the annual developer fee is barely more than the many people pay monthly on their cell phone bill for their iPhone. And how much does MS charge for annual maintenance of their full-version of Visual Studio?
 
jessica. said:
Blankets and statements don't mix.
Click to expand...

Oh, I don't know. "That Snuggie Blanket makes quite a fashion statement." ;)

But I agree with the poster that said $99 is too low. I think there should be a fee per application. So for example, you get 4 paid app submissions for your $99 fee, but pay $25 for each additional paid app. It might prohibit the app farms like Brighthouse and Khalid Sheik that throw out 1,000+ useless apps at $9.99 just to take space and maybe sell a few to unwitting customers.

Or, keep it free but charge a fee for 'Expedited Review'. Even Yahoo complained about their update taking months. If Electronic Arts etc., could pay $1,000 for a 1-week guaranteed turnaround, with detailed problems if rejected, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Heck, I might even, given my last apps kept getting rejected for 2+ months and I had very little constructive or corrective feedback throughout the rejections, at least until recently. Now that they told me, I made the changes and 3 out of 5 have been approved.

Apple needs to put more resources into the reviews and it appears they don't value it enough. If it was a profit center, (which I think it already is, but if Apple only has 40 reviewers, it's not in their eyes) maybe they'd throw more people at it.
 
MacToddB said:
But I agree with the poster that said $99 is too low. I think there should be a fee per application. So for example, you get 4 paid app submissions for your $99 fee, but pay $25 for each additional paid app. It might prohibit the app farms like Brighthouse and Khalid Sheik that throw out 1,000+ useless apps at $9.99 just to take space and maybe sell a few to unwitting customers.
Click to expand...

That doesn't go far enough... it should be $99 for ONE APP with unlimited update submissions for that app. You want to submit a second app? Another 99 bucks. 100 apps? Almost $10,000 in fees. If you're not putting out absolute garbage you should make that $99 per app back within the first day or two tops... That money would allow hiring of many new reviewers to keep turnaround times under 7 days for everyone.

Of course it's too late, the store is flooded, can't plug up the leaks in the septic tank now :D
 
The $99 per app submission idea could negatively impact the App store market. Some growing number of free apps (and $0.99 "ringtone" apps) seems to strongly drives consumer/fad app consumption, which drives iPhone sales/popularity, which grows the market for everybody.

But some sort of tiered pricing, depending on the number of free app submissions allowed, number of paid apps allowed, and expedited review feedback, would probably produce more revenue for Apple to fund the system.
 
Wow, I had now idea apple charged yearly. I can only hope my 99c app will make enough to cover that. Do not so popular 99c apps usually make at least $100 a year?
 
MacToddB said:
Not only that, but you won't get paid until you earn $250 in any particular country's iTunes store.
Click to expand...

It's 150 USD now. And it's not across country, it's across currency zones. So, I don't have to wait for 150 USD worth of sales from Montenegro (Little Montenegro!) before I get paid -- it gets lumped in with the Euro Zone.
 
MacToddB said:
Not only that, but you won't get paid until you earn $250 in any particular country's iTunes store.
Click to expand...

This isn't entirely true in practice, although it is what Apple says. There have been a number of occasions this year where I've been paid much less than $250 from certain regions. It hasn't been every month but probably after a few months of not being paid from a certain region they just pay you whatever you are owed from all regions, even if its not $250.

EDIT: I have also been paid when it's been less than $150.
 
admanimal said:
This isn't entirely true in practice, although it is what Apple says. There have been a number of occasions this year where I've been paid much less than $250 from certain regions. It hasn't been every month but probably after a few months of not being paid from a certain region they just pay you whatever you are owed from all regions, even if its not $250.

EDIT: I have also been paid when it's been less than $150.
Click to expand...

Yeah one month I got a $45 deposit, it was quite unexpected.
 
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