As the iPhone AppStore gets more popular, Apple has made significant changes the way refunds and policies are handled. As the new contract is rolled out, many developers are left scratching their head that their next big application could bankrupt them.Apple takes 30% commission off every sale, leaving the developer with 70% of the sale going directly to the developer. The new refund policy allows users to request a refund for an application, up to 90 days of purchase, where the developer must refund 100% of the credit to Apple, not the 70% they were given.
The policy change could potentially bankrupt developers if users started requesting refunds after the payment has been made. Apple would still hold onto its 30% of commission, leaving the refund in the developers hands to deal with.
In the clause in the actual contract, Apple states its hold on the refund policy:
In the event that Apple receives any notice or claim from any end-user that: (i) the end-user wishes to cancel its license to any of the Licensed Applications within ninety (90) days of the date of download of that Licensed Application by that end-user; or (ii) a Licensed Application fails to conform to Your specifications or Your product warranty or the requirements of any applicable law, Apple may refund to the end-user the full amount of the price paid by the end-user for that Licensed Application. In the event that Apple refunds any such price to an end-user, You shall reimburse, or grant Apple a credit for, an amount equal to the price for that Licensed Application. Apple will have the right to retain its commission on the sale of that Licensed Application, notwithstanding the refund of the price to the end.
If I was an Apple developer I would run for the hills.
Even if I found the holy grail of iPhone apps, I wouldn't release it for fear of bankrupcy.
Even if I found the holy grail of iPhone apps, I wouldn't release it for fear of bankrupcy.
Uhhh if it was the holy grail of apps then why would they be worried about refunds? If it's so great i doubt people are going to need a refund???
Even if I found the holy grail of iPhone apps, I wouldn't release it for fear of bankrupcy.
Uhhh if it was the holy grail of apps then why would they be worried about refunds? If it's so great i doubt people are going to need a refund???
OK maybe not the Holy grail, but you know what I'm getting at.
Even if I found the holy grail of iPhone apps, I wouldn't release it for fear of bankrupcy.
Uhhh if it was the holy grail of apps then why would they be worried about refunds? If it's so great i doubt people are going to need a refund???
Because people are flakes. Even great products get returns, and perfect software might not be exactly what a particular person wanted for their purposes. Someone might change to a different phone--they won't need that iPhone software anymore.
Seriously now, anyone with even a minimal amount of experience in sales and business knows that the quality of the product only contributes a fraction to its success.
This might make me reconsider my entry into the iPhone development market.
You can't make developers refund more than they were given in the first place. What were the PR department at Apple smoking when they come up with this?
Money
lol so true. When are fan boys going to relies that apple is just as evil as any other corporation. The only difference between apple and say dell is that apple is willing to pay more money to create this image of them being these kooky artist that love there consumers. Always remember that they run on money and they will do anything to get more of it even if that means creating an image that they aren't money grubbing whores. Treat a corporation like you would any animal because that's basically what they are.
I doubt I will be using apps after 3 months. So I'll just do exactly that. Sod the developers, I'm getting me money back.
Read the article.
It said that Apple will still keep their 30% commission while the developer has to pay the entire refund out of his own pocket.
Now how long that trial lasts? I say it depends on the program.
Quickly, to the patent machine!
thumbs up for Cydia.
New Product = Big Plus
New refund policy = Unpublicized Minus
Overall = Big Plus with hidden catches.
I hope that they experience a mass exodus of developers immediately. They need to remedy it now.
Maybe it was meant to be read that it was a refund of 100% of the 70% the developer receives. Apple still keeps the 30% for hosting and marketing.
We are talking about Apple aren't we...they do not believe in sharing, open source or price shoppers.
Apple is far more open source friendly than Microsoft. Much of their OS is built on BSD (which they re-release as the Darwin open source project), their browser is built on Webkit (a fork of Konqueror) which they release as open source. Perhaps you should look through their open source developers page before you make yourself look ignroant: http://developer.apple.com/opensource/index.html
Apple contributes back to open source projects depending on the terms of the license. Of course, since you are so heavily biased against Apple, you probably wouldn't believe anything good that anyone tells you about Apple anyway.
If was easy for ask for a refund at whim, then i can abuse of the system purchasing a game and later asking for a refund.
Or may be the way to ask for a refund is to send a letter to Apple, asking for a refund because a problem / lack on functionality in the application.
With $25 Billion in the bank, I'd say they are a tad bit successful.
Since developers that wanted to charge for google apps on android, they new this was coming from the start... unlike apple developers...
Don't release ****ty apps, while promising it's not ****ty.
If a refund is being given, how is it fair that the developer has to take a loss while Apple makes a profit? A refund is basically a reversal payment. In a sale, Apple gets their cut, the developers get a cut. If there's a refund, Apple should return their cut and the developers should return theirs.
If you want to argue that Apple shouldn't have to swallow the costs of maintaining the app store or arranging payment, how about the developer who made the app in the first place? There's a cost there too.
Only Apple could develop and implement a mechanism where they "win" even when the customer gets a complete refund. Class act.
That's totally killed any possibility of development on the iPhone for me - who needs innovation anyway when Apple do it all </sarcasm>
Are games sold in the app store? If so then this is ridiculous, since people will just complete them then get the refund...
The difference is how easy or hard is to ask for a refund and how pre-requisites are enough to ask for a refund, a single "i don't like it" can't be enough in some cases.
Also, what keeps Apple from holding onto the full purchase price for 90 days and on day 91 they release the developers 70% and they take there so unfair share. If during the 90 days there has been a request for refund then the complete 100% is refunded to the consumer. The developer is not out, and Apple looses nothing. If the developer requests live payments then the developer eats the 30% if a refund is requested. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
The bottom line is to protect the consumer at all costs...
Also, what keeps Apple from holding onto the full purchase price for 90 days and on day 91 they release the developers 70% and they take there so unfair share. If during the 90 days there has been a request for refund then the complete 100% is refunded to the consumer. The developer is not out, and Apple looses nothing. If the developer requests live payments then the developer eats the 30% if a refund is requested. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
The bottom line is to protect the consumer at all costs...
So by that logic you should just let the consumer get a 100% refund every time they ask for it. Theoretically I could just buy the same app over and over, and refund it every time. If I did this I could actually directly bankrupt the developer. If the developer is bankrupt he will no longer make apps for the app store. If developers hate the refund plan and leave, there will be no consumers because there will be nothing more to buy. So really, if you protect the developers you also protect the consumers because they will have something to buy. Think about the damage that can be done to developers if a mass amount of people wanted to refund a game.
(Or what the post after this said... I really should read the whole thread next time.)
Create an automated process to:
1. Buy an app.
2. Return it.
3. Goto 1.
You get all your money back, your competition just got 30%'ed to death.
And every refund require a valid excuse.
If it takes you 89 days to decide you don't like the app or it isn't what you imagined you're outside the time limit for any refund according to UK Consumer law. The best you can hope for is the 7 day cooling off period, where you can request a full refund, no questions asked. This applies particularly to distance selling, such as online purchases. If you take longer to realise that then that is your own fault.
Warranty, where a product that should be reasonably expected to last or work for n days / weeks / months / years subsequently fails / breaks is a different matter. Even then you aren't necessarily entitled to a full refund as you had use of the (fully working) product before the breakdown.
In any case, if a product is faulty, how can Apple legally justify keeping part of the fee? A faulty product is a faulty product and Apple does not have any legal standing to "fine" a developer 30% of cost.
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