Oh I completely understand that. I said pretty much the same thing in another thread. My point was that Apple is not going to do anyone any favors just because the barrier to entry is so low. To be honest I think we should be grateful Apple gives everyone a chance like this. This is the first platform that made moonlight developing not only mainstream, but with the possibility of lucrative results. And as much as people want to complain about the review process, etc. I think the 70/30 split without a middleman significantly streamlines things. What other platform with this kind of distribution channel allows this??
I read some article that was linked in here about Khalid...the amount of money the guy's been able to play around with in previous projects is alarming. Millions of dollars, maybe not directly, but he's had major funding for sites and other shit he's worked on. Plus he's had work experience with some very large companies wtf? The guy is definitely not an idiot - he's capable of making much better apps (ESPECIALLY if he focused on say ONE legitimate project)
After reading through the latest 3 pages of (off-topic ) discussion on this thread, I have to say I think this idea is the best, IMHO. Personally I would set the per-app deposit to $99, same as the developer fee, for all new paid apps. Once the app is approved, you pay the $99, and off you go. If you sell more than that, then the deposit is refunded with your next check; if not, then I guess you knew the risk before you submitted. Personally I don't believe this will hurt serious developers, it will only hurt the dragnet style of app submission that people are complaining about here. In effect, it would cost those people some serious money to spam the app store.
Wow lol finally a hate(?) topic about this guy I mean seriously this guy is not a developer, he is a guy who made one big app and split it into 9000+ different apps that all do basically the samething albiet different themes. This seriously pisses me off and to you supporters of him think about it, does his apps make the AppStore more revolutionary? Does it add functionality to your phone? Does an HIV news reader(that shows stolen feed) or a flute app(*cough*SOUNDBOARD*cough*) make your phone more funtional at then it already is at the price of 5.99$? Of course it doesn't bother you if you just avoid the app, but what happens to those that are suckered in to purchasing the app by the apps that are meant to look like genuine apps? Blame it on apple? Apple may be making revenue from Khalidware but apple cares about the customer because a company doesn't make a living from money alone. Someone really should send a red flag up to apple about this developer because he isn't helping the app store only spamming it. If I was apple I would strip this developer of his development privelages and kick him out as he does not deserve to work with the AppStore! Shame on him I doubt he has made more then 1000$ with all those crapps he has made on the AppStore, let alone on anything he has made.
As mentioned yesterday it would seem your wish is granted. His apps are still inaccessible on the store.
Hopefully it's permanent, somebody should look into this because I would love to see his reaction to this and apples reason for doing this(not that there isn't.)
Hehe yes I'd love to see his reaction too! But I suspect his reaction will be to register a new dev account and continue doing more of the same.
Buying a new liscense? I doubt that once you get kicked off the appstore its possible to get back on, its not like signing up for a TA account
What's wrong with the model used by the BlackBerry App World? $200 to sign-up, which allows 10 new apps or updates ($20 each). Then you pay $200 again. It's perfect and affordable. And from what I have seen, they seem to screen applications, so no crapware there.
No crapware there, probably because there isn't really a market there either when compared to the app store. That $200 includes updates? So you release 1 app, 9 left, you then provide updates to your users each month for a year, it is costing you $400 just to have your app available. Is there a yearly developer fee like with apple? Lets just say there is and it is $99 as well, that is $500 you are forking out for 1 application for a year. Lets also say it sells for 0.99, and you also lose 30% so 0.79. 633 sales needed to even break even for being allowed to release. Then also consider how much $200 is. In the US, it isn't much, how about to someone in India? It is a huge amount based off average income. Charging more and more just isn't the answer, you are potentially forcing out legitimate developers, and maybe the next flight control. As I mentioned, I believe the review process should be tightened up to avoid complete crap appearing. Although even if you remove the crapplications today the problem will still exist as the numbers of "legitimate" apps will continue to grow and the problem of apps being lost will once again appear.
@daveak: There is no yearly fee with the BB App World. You are correct. You use up $20 of your pre-paid $200 for a new app or update. I find it beyond reasonable. Apps are priced at a minimum of $2.99 Trust me. There is a market. But you have to come out with highly polished products. I do have a product which sells very well for $4.95, *outside* the App World. So there is a good market. If I look at the sales figures and I would have had to pay $20 to release it ... NO PROBLEM! As for updates, I rarely made more than 2 updates in a year for any application I have developed in the past 9 years. So again, paying a max of $40, it's still not a problem. The whole bottom line with the App Store is that everyone imagines that fortunes can be made selling crapware. I have seen sales figures from the App Store which have been highly advertised, and they are still nothing compared to what you get with serious PC/Mac/etc products on other channels.
Apple needs to SCREEN their apps not just check for taboo material, they need to see if the app is making the appstore more revoloutionary not promote shovelware (and especially not khalidware). To me the appstore is like newgrounds except you have to pay 100$. The appstore is open to everybody but there should be a fine line on whos apps should be on the appstore. We dont need more fees we need a better review process and requirements on what it takes to be a developer.
I don't know about this. One persons "shovelware" is another's must-have app. The review process would end up being even more subjective than it is now and the reviewer's personal tastes would start to dictate whether your app gets approved or not. Obviously there are some apps that almost everyone can agree shouldn't be on the app store, but there is also a VERY big grey area.
I can see what you mean, I've bought tons of apps that don't have a good sense of quality but are of use to me (Daily Downer?) Im saying that the review process should not be; Got porn? Blam! Got intense violence? Blam! Got a bot hacking network? Blam! Got an app that has none of the above but has no functionality whatsoever? Approved! An app should make your device more functional or entertaining. The approval process should be based on what the app can do compared to other app and what it does best instead of just seeing if it contains taboo material or not.
Ok. I make PC games for a few years. Over time, the quality of my games increased and I got to score distribution contracts with a lot (if not all) of major online and retail publishers. How they work to ensure their catalogue is kept clean, users get the best games, etc? They take each game on a case basis. They play it, test it, etc, and if they like it, they will publish it. It's all a personal discussion and business, and it takes anywhere from 1 to 3 months to see a game live. But you get excellent sales for a few good years to come. Everybody is happy. Regardless of how many excusses people come up with for shovelware, the result will be the same. The market will decline. And after that, people will start to associate the idea of owning an iDevice with the idea of crap games, crap software, rippoffs, etc. And this will be a hard thing to reverse. What Apple needs, is someone with a long experience in the software and games distribution area. I am confident they are already working on something and things will change in the way the App Store works. I honestly don't believe they are that stupid to leave things as they are and think it will just work out. In almost 10 years as a programmer, I have worked and finished less than 20 titles. From small utilities to major PC games. 65.000+ games and software for the iPhone? It's more like 6500. That's the real figure.
@exosyphen +1 I agree apple is NOT stupid they may be leving things at certain low degrees such as app discovery and the dreaded review process, but things are going to change for sure soon. A good company is based on customer feedback not money. Lots of teenagers who own an iPod Touch and know NOTHING about what works behind the app store walls give horrible feedback and just scream at apple for "doing it wrong" get butthurt about the app store not being specifcally tailored for the use, like apps being "boring". They think apple is being lazy or stupid and think they can change everything with a flick of a switch. Obviusly apple is not informing the general public about how the AppStore works and what is being done to fix said complaints. Short story, apple needs to say their working on something to address said problems rather then throwing it on a todo list making it a background project.
