>> This was my take. If you were Apple, wouldn't you want 30% of sales >> for referrals from your high-traffic site (if you could get it) rather >> than simply giving the referrals away for free? And if you did, >> wouldn't you turn off the free referrals some months in advance so >> that the comparison wouldn't be THAT obvious?
>That makes sense, but if they intend to take 30% of the cuts then there's >one of two things. > >1. They have a non-exclusive agreement, which means that I for one >would simply slam 30% on top of my usual sales price for the "App Store" >version. Why would anyone then buy it there? If I was a customer, I would >go to the App Store to look for applications and then just google them >up and save the 30%. > >2. They force you to either an exclusive agreement or at least to agree >not to sell at a discount. In this case, I am not sure I would sign up with >them. Probably not... Now the wheels are turning. I go back to my previous comment, can you survive selling software for $10? Apple, via iTunes & the iPad, is lowering the price of retail desktop software; it will become a commodity market. I doubt Apple can be stopped (or reasoned with). Those that decide to stay in will need to restructure like any other business entering the commodity phase of life. High volume & short product life cycles for the small organizations. I think there is something to be learned from the iPhone "experiment" for all small software vendors. We will soon all be in the same boat, brothers & sisters. Just an aside, I have always sold my iPhone software for more than "$0.99" but, that does not change the realities of the marketplace. Don www.SunMoonFoot.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
