Re:Donation page "not compliant with Google Play Policies"
by fastball on Saturday April 10, 2021 @11:35AM
(#26762223)
It's a tough problem. Google/Apple aren't taking cuts of genuinely free apps, even though they are part of the overall cost and can sometimes (for big apps) actually have pretty high variable costs.
So you might say that Google/Apple should just start charging directly for the app store spots, with some markup. e.g. $30/m for up to 10k downloads, $50/m for 30k, etc.
But arguably app stores wouldn't be the juggernauts they are without the loads and loads of free apps people can download for no upfront cost, and it seems unlikely that this would've happened if the app store business model had been the one above from the outset.
In other words, the author is complaining about the existing model, but it is unclear if putting his stuff on the app store would've been such an appealing thing to do without said model. Bit of a catch-22.
So you might say that Google/Apple should just start charging directly for the app store spots, with some markup. e.g. $30/m for up to 10k downloads, $50/m for 30k, etc.
But arguably app stores wouldn't be the juggernauts they are without the loads and loads of free apps people can download for no upfront cost, and it seems unlikely that this would've happened if the app store business model had been the one above from the outset.
In other words, the author is complaining about the existing model, but it is unclear if putting his stuff on the app store would've been such an appealing thing to do without said model. Bit of a catch-22.