The massively-popular Camera+ from Tap Tap Tap sold 78,000 copies on Christmas day, but no one else I know sees numbers like that. My own $10 Tweet Library fell a little short of 1000 copies in its first launch month… and unfortunately continued to drop since, but let’s use that to keep the math simple. Selling direct via PayPal would be $590 in fees. To Apple? About $3000.
Apple provides a unique service and it’s their right to charge whatever they want. Developers can choose to pay it or restrict development to more open platforms. I’m inclined to think the 30% is high but not unreasonable for everything Apple hopes to provide.
But here’s where everything breaks down: for $3000 I expect someone at Apple to tell me what the $%!# is going on.
It’s not just review times, or emails that go into the void, unanswered for days or weeks or ever. It’s that Apple isn’t able to communicate about the fundamental issues that will make or break businesses.
via Manton Reece – App Store 30% cut. That’s a ginormous difference in fees, especially with the complaint of not knowing anything about anything.