14 DAY TRIAL // It’s no mystery that the App Store rewards the top-downloaded titles best, while those that fail to make the charts end up in a pile of no-name apps that hardly get any visibility. If Apple features your app, you can become rich overnight.
When Steve Jobs announced the App Store in 2008, he presented developers with a plan to split the revenues between them and Apple so that everyone gets a fair share of the deal. The 30/70 split is great for hot-shot developers, but not so great for newcomers.
A tiered plan
Jeff Hunter thinks he has the answer to this problem. A former Apple staffer and now the co-founder of AnlyList, Hunter has written an open letter to CEO Tim Cook asking him to consider changing the 30/70 model at least until the first $100K / €100K is made.
He believes that “at $100K in net revenues per year, you may be a successful independent developer. At $70K in net revenues per year, your spouse could be telling you to get a day job.” He therefore proposes a tiered rate, where Apple takes less for a so-and-so app, and more for an app with millions and millions of downloads.
Something along these lines: - nothing from the first $100K and 30% after that; - 10% from the first $100K, 20% from the next $100K, and 30% after that.
Hunter admits that such a move would impact Apple’s revenues in the short term, but only marginally. He believes such a move would allow more developers to work full-time on enriching the App Store with new titles.
The “letter” is a hot topic of discussion on Reddit at the moment, but most readers seem to believe that a tiered rate won’t do much to change the situation. How about you?