If you thought App development on the App Store was a joyous ride to fame, glory, and boatloads of money, think again. While some developers certainly have had it good, there’s tons who are just struggling to make their peace with Apple.
TechCrunch reports on developers having delayed payment issues. Some have gone weeks past the 45 day limit, while another has reported to have been underpaid by $10,000!
App Store approval process is still a big pain as Apple continues to play god with developers. Here’s a story of a company which has reportedly invested $600k in an iPhone application, which is neither approved, nor rejected, FOR SIX MONTHS! The company has now closed the project due to Apple’s refusal to communicate.
“We just want to get Apple to have the social conscience to have a conversation,” Thomas said. “They can even tell me no.”
If that wasn’t bad enough, here’s a clause found in the App Store contract, as reported by Leena Rao for TechCrunch:
If iPhone users decide that they want a refund for an app (users can get a refund within 90 days, according to Apple policy), Apple requires that developers give back the money they received from the sale. But here’s the kicker—Apple will refund the full amount to the user and says that it has the right to keep its commission.
That means that if someone demands a refund, Apple gets to keep their cut while still refunding the entire amount to the customer. I’m sure most users don’t know that you can do refunds, much less actually go file for one.
Update: As pointed out by @fizzboy on Twitter, this case is blown out of proportion. Jeff Lemarche clears things up.
The best solution to this would be to enable trial versions for applications. 24 hours after downloading you have to either purchase the app or they remotely pull the plug on your app. Google’s Android Marketplace seems to have something like this already in place. Something tells me the iPhone 3.0 OS will come with this functionality. In-App purchases seems to be laying the groundwork for this.
Whatever be the case, Apple better start treating developers with the respect they deserve. Sooner or later, this gravy train is going to reach its final stop.
[img via Pupski/flickr]
