Comments on: Last.fm Co-Founder Blasts Apple’s 30 Percent Cut

By: Adrian

Adrian — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:26:34 +0000

Apple is perfectly entitled to do this. It’s their ‘closed ecosystem’ after all.

Don’t like having Darth Jobs’ ‘I’m altering the deal – pray I don’t alter it further’ tactics? Sop doing business with the Empire.

By: JakeJones

JakeJones — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:38:39 +0000

as a iphone app developer, i wish Apple would change their flat 30% structure to better appear to those us trying out ideas (vs. the Electronic Arts of the world).

i have both paid and unpaid apps on the store. my paid ones have been doing okay $$ wise. but I would be much more active in promoting and improving them if Apple had an approach that nurtured improvements.

For example, how about we align incentives so that for the first $5k, Apple charges 0%. That way Apple has an incentive to help all great apps get more visibility and above the $5k mark. At $5k some of us would recoup our time/$$, but we wouldn’t be rich.

Then shift to 15% between $5 – $10k, and then above $10k, go to 30%.

I don’t think Apple should get 30% if they aren’t really helping me with any marketing (eg, no one can find me since there are so many, so i need to do all the marketing work) and just for a transaction fee.

By: His Shadow

His Shadow — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:01:30 +0000

Go to another platform is what means. Go see how many customers you get on Meego, Symbian, Android, WebOS…

By: His Shadow

His Shadow — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:58:49 +0000

Drama Queen much?

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:59:58 +0000

Its like Apple only has one field to store a %, its 30% on everything…

imo 30% is way too much, but it dont see how this relate to anti-trust regulations…

By: Pete Austin

Pete Austin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:57:51 +0000

I work for a b2b SaaS vendor. If we provide an iPhone app in the future, to access our system, do we have to offer subscriptions+renewals through App Store, with a 30% cut to Apple?

Only a restricted version of the UI would run on the iPhone, not the expensive cloud services. Particularly for renewals, which sell themselves, this seems grossly unfair.

By: Sridhar

Sridhar — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:41:15 +0000

Isnt it like AMZN’s move (actually forced by publishers) to hike ebook prices from a fixed 9.99$ ?
Wouldnt the cost now be ‘passed’ onto the user?

By: Jeffyg3

Jeffyg3 — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 06:55:17 +0000

I love the ipad and iPhone, and moving from my Evo Android phone to the iPhone was the best decision I made with phoes as the iPhone makes Android look like a piece of crap with its better OS and content in the AppStore, but some of the restrictions Apple puts on the Store is horrible. If Apple is trying to push developers away from the iOS ecosystem to Android, then they’re doing a damn fine job with this subscription move. If I were a developer like the ones for last fm, they I woud just give the middle finger to Apple and go Andoid. I hope Apple wises up and realizes the stupidity of this subscription service.

By: Darren

Darren — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 03:42:36 +0000

As Android is all over Apple’s market and likely to squeeze Apple more in 2011, they may need some of these services on board. I can use Spotify on my iPhone, Squeezebox, PC and others. Is an Apple streaming service going to work on everything I use? I doubt it. I’m already ready to jump, ruin my music experience and I’m off and I’m guessing thousands of others do the same.

By: Last.fm Co-Founder Blasts Apple’s 30 Percent Cut: Apple News, Tips and Reviews « | My Blog

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 02:46:30 +0000

[...] While large-scale distributors and publishers might have a hard time swallowing Apple’s new rules, I’ve argued that the new system might actually be a boon to other developers and the App Store economy at large. Jon Crowley also has a good counterpoint at his blog to those quick to dismiss Apple’s move as nothing more than the product of unbridled greed. What’s your take? via gigaom.com [...]