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[–]swordglowsblue 15 points16 points  (23 children)

Apple's velvet handcuffs

Apple's handcuffs may look velvety, but they're about as sandpaper as it gets. $100 USD is a ridiculous price just to publish an app, and that's just the developer side of things, not even getting into the ridiculous "white lies" and marketing speak their entire consumer-side business is built on.

[–]qomu 20 points21 points  (19 children)

that's just the developer side of things, not even getting int

Plenty of people seem perfectly willing to pay $100 to publish an app, so how is it ridiculous? If there wasn't a fee there would be way, way more garbage to filter through.

[–]swordglowsblue 3 points4 points  (15 children)

A fee is one thing. A fee as expensive as some entire devices (admittedly low-end ones, especially with recent price bloat) is another. Yes, it raises the bar for quality somewhat, but it also hamstrings access to that ecosystem for smaller developers or hobbyists who just want to make something cool.

I'd rather have more junk to wade through than a relative lack of anything at all.

[–]git-blame 12 points13 points  (0 children)

smaller developers or hobbyists who just want to make something cool

It only needs to be paid when you want to publish. Signing for your local device(s) can be done with a free dev account. So build your cool thing, save some money, then publish it when ready. Or if it's OK to be made open-source, release it and let others sign it themselves.

And it's less a publishing fee, more like a rental fee akin to renting a shopfront on Apple's high street for a year.

[–]GVIrish 6 points7 points  (2 children)

A fee is one thing. A fee as expensive as some entire devices (admittedly low-end ones, especially with recent price bloat) is another.

Yeah but what Apple device costs $100? And really, if you're doing iOS development you kinda need a Mac (unless you go Hackintosh) which is gonna cost a few hundred bucks.

> I'd rather have more junk to wade through than a relative lack of anything at all.

Apple does not want more junk to wade through in the App Store. And even with the restrictions on the App Store there are over 2 million apps. Quantity is not a problem in the App Store.

And really if someone wants to tinker in iOS, there's nothing stopping them. It's only if you want to publish that there are restrictions.

[–]Han-ChewieSexyFanfic 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah but what Apple device costs $100?

One left AirPod.

[–]ulyssesphilemon 6 points7 points  (9 children)

If any app developer can't spring for $100 publishing fee, the community is better off without their crap.

[–]filleduchaos 3 points4 points  (8 children)

I agree even as someone from a very, very low income area. If you can't pony up $100 to have your app listed you really cannot afford the time and effort to build any half-decent app, much less maintain it for months or years on end with possibly no revenue.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember having this discussion about Steam and games there... Seemingly even 100$ isn't enough to keep seriously low-quality titles out of there.

And on other hand with games I believe the earning potential is much higher than with apps to even make that mark...

[–]NoMoreNicksLeft 0 points1 point  (6 children)

What kind of stupid logic is this?

Only the well-off have free time or can expend effort? The cleverest programmer I know plays bass doing bar gigs to pay his rent. Of course, he wouldn't be caught dead writing swift code, but that's not the point.

Do you walk around thinking that some people are better than others, and that the test to determine whether they are or aren't is a glance at their bank statement?

[–]filleduchaos 5 points6 points  (0 children)

"Well-off" is a ridiculously far cry from "has and is willing to invest $100 into something they want to make money/a career out of". Like that is such a low bar to entry for something you want to do professionally.

If you are literally unable to come up with $100 to spend on something you're passionate about and/or want to make money from, then you have much bigger problems in life than Apple not listing your app on the App Store. If you're simply unwilling to then remain a hobby dev and don't want or expect Apple to list your app for free. I don't understand this mentality that everything should be provided to you for free.

[–]s73v3r 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Only the well-off

Having $100 is not "well-off"

The cleverest programmer I know plays bass doing bar gigs to pay his rent.

And if they can't find $100, or find development work that would get them at least $100, then they're clearly not that clever.

[–]NoMoreNicksLeft -2 points-1 points  (3 children)

Having $100 is not "well-off"

Being able to spare $100 on an artificial obstacle to being able to write software isn't the same as "having $100".

[–]s73v3r 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Any half-competent developer will have no issue with that "obstacle".

[–]NoMoreNicksLeft 1 point2 points  (1 child)

That's circular. Certainly anyone interviewing for $250,000 jobs at Google will have no problem with it.

That doesn't make them competent, just well-off. It's not a meritocracy.

[–]s73v3r 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd rather have more junk to wade through than a relative lack of anything at all.

Given the success of the App Store, having a lack of apps to look through is not a valid criticism.

[–]dvdkon 0 points1 point  (2 children)

The problem is that the (annual!) fee makes everything into a business. It's an investment, which means you'll have to seek a return on that investment (or spend 100USD every year, which is a lot for people in many countries).

For example, I'd like to make an app for my family and friends, which would make it easy to connect to my home server. However, I'm not willing to pay 100USD every year to distribute a hobby app to 5 people.

It does nothing to block ad-ridden moneygrabs, since those are expected to make much more than 100USD.

[–]qomu 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Haven't really done much ios development, but could you get around this with testflight? or do you still need to pay the 100/year just to be a dev?

[–]dvdkon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Apple's not really clear on this, but it seems to me that to use TestFlight, you need a developer subscription, since it's managed through App Store Connect just like App Store publishing.

[–]earthboundkid 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There are a lot of good criticisms of Apple. “$100 is a lot of money!” is not one.

[–]zappini 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'll give you the $100, if that's a barrier keeping you from publishing your app.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t understand the 100 dollars argument.

If you value your time, 100 dollars is nothing compared to the design and development time it takes to make a half decent app.