When talking amongst colleagues about the App Business and the requirements for such an industry, I always receive the same response after informing them about the 30% commission fees. Everyone says that is too high. I originally started doing this as a hobby but soon after turned it into a passion. I do agree that the commission rate is high; however, handling everything on the store backend makes it worth it, in my opinion. That is unless YOU have a better solution to manage it all? If so, I’d love to hear it, contact me.
Is an App Store commission worth it for indie app developers?
I believe so, yes. The reason being is by paying the commission, developers will receive the following:
- Developers don’t have to worry about the App Store being online 100% to handle millions of users.
- Protect against attacks on the website.
- Sale and subscription transactions.
- Refunds.
- Software licenses.
- Protecting apps from being pirated.
- Having an ecosystem of users willing to try new apps.
- Etc…
These App Stores, not just Apple, help indie developers get off the ground. The more established developers have options to self-publish on their own website, do both, or just stick to only being on the App Store.
Fornite vs. Apple Fiasco
Keeping up with all the commotion about everyone being against Apple is interesting. To be clear, I do not associate with any of them. The business world isn’t all rainbows and sunshine, my friend. Sometimes we just have to roll with the punches. That is if you want to stay in the game.
The Fortnite vs. Apple legal battles make me question why Epic individuals would allow such a fatal move to knowingly violate the contract with Apple and Google Play Store? What did they expect would happen? In this scenario, I agree with Apple. Apple says Epic’s problems “Entirely self-inflicted”. 🍿
App Store Small Business Program
Apple has recently introduced an “App Store Small Business Program” that will cut down app sale commissions for developers from 30% down to 15%. This is only available to those who earn less than 1 million dollars per year.
The deadline to enroll in this program is December 18, 2020.
This year has been exciting for app developers as Apple introduced Apple Silicon Mac’s and now offers lower commission rates that begin January 1, 2021.
Drawbacks of the program
One major con of being in this program is developers are not allowed to transfer apps to another account. This is common for developers who acquire other app companies.
Conclusion
The year 2020 started off badly. I had so much hope for it but it caught us all off guard. I do not think there is anyone on earth that was not affected by this. On the bright side app, developers can look forward to 2021 with Apple’s lowered commission rates and creating software for the Apple Silicon.
Now we just need Google Play Store, Microsoft, and Amazon App Store to follow suit with lowered commission rates.