i think this will be a serious discussion at palmsource :) someone has to make a stand somewhere - its already at 40% and it looks like the more dominant these big players get - the worse it is going to be.
AFAIK - and I should say that I don't have an application on sale yet - the PalmGear commission is about 35%. (Handango's is definitely 40%.) IIRC, PG changed their royalty calculation so that transaction costs are charged differently, effectively raising the commission by about 5% (from 30% base).
But... why not handle your sales through eSellerate? They have a variable rate with a maximum of 15% last time I checked. The only way that you are going to get noticed on either PalmGear or Handango is by advertising on their sites or in their newsletters.
The way I see it, you have to be prepared to invest a lot of money in marketing if you really want your product to succeed. In the case of handheld applications that means listing and advertising your software on the big-name sites. You can either have 60% of something or 60% of nothing, take your pick. Of course this means you have to raise the price and the customer loses out in the end. If you manage to attract customers through different means and bypass ESD sites (for instance through Google ads) then that's all the better for you. My point is that getting your product in front of an audience is by no means something that just happens by itself.
European developers (I live in the Netherlands) also have the weak dollar to contend with. In fact, I'm more worried about the dollar than the ESD commission rates...
Anyway, this is my take on it. I don't want to start a flame war, really. I'm sure I'll change my mind when my product has been on sale for a while. :-)
Regards -Laurens
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