游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

开发商不满苹果iPad和iPhone应用订阅服务政策

发布时间:2011-02-17 15:30:16 Tags:,,,,

苹果最近公布了iPad和iPhone应用订阅功能的相关说明,但据游戏邦所知,苹果的这一举动引起了不少开发商的反弹。

问题何在?乍一看,苹果的规则似乎合情合理。针对在App Store上售出的订阅服务,苹果从中抽成30%,但发行商也可以在其他地方设置订阅功能,如通过他们自己的网站。游戏邦获悉,苹果的官方声明有些让人困惑,“由于没有参与这些交易,苹果不会参与收益分成或者交易用户信息。”

iPhone apps

iPhone apps

但问题是,如果开发商在其他地方提供订阅功能,他们也得将这一功能添加到iPhone和iPad应用中,并以相同的价格出售。开发商不得在iPhone和iPad应用中添加链接,引导用户到其他地方购买游戏内容和订阅服务。这甚至影响了像亚马逊Kindle之类的应用软件,因为它提供链接引导用户购买Kindle的书籍。

苹果所创造的可能是迄今为止使用最简便的订阅服务。但是,开发商又不能为了顺利创收,填补苹果抽成30%的缺口而提高应用内置的订阅费用,降低其他地方的订阅价格。否则,就有可能让用户很是为难,陷入购买超级体验还是低价产品的艰难抉择中。

这可能有道理,但并非对每个人都适用。比如说Rhapsody,如果苹果要分成30%,那么这个订阅模式就对它就不适用,它会和业内人士协商,寻求法律途径解决这个运营模式引发的问题。据游戏邦了解,Think Vitamin的“网络创业者”博客作者Ryan Carson表示,苹果的这一举动将促使开发商加快采用HTML5技术的步伐,而不是只开发需要绝对服从苹果政策的原始应用。

当然App Store从一开始就受到开发商的指责,但它的应用软件数量仍在不断增加。虽然有一些初创公司致力于开发网页应用或者Android应用,但他们的比例微乎其微。

如果苹果的这一限制性政策把开发商们逼到了绝境,他们还会继续和苹果合作吗。游戏邦认为,和往常一样,如果开发商们在苹果新模式下还能继续盈利,那么大部分人都会选择接受并适应这一变化。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

How far can Apple push developers?

What’s the problem? At first glance, the rules seem fair enough. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of subscriptions sold through the App Store, but publishers are free to offer subscriptions elsewhere, for example through their website. (There’s something kind of hilarious about the fact that Apple says explicitly, “Since Apple is not involved in these transactions, there is no revenue sharing or exchange of customer information with Apple.” Uh, thanks?)

But here’s the catch: If developers offer subscriptions elsewhere, they have to offer them inside their iPhone and iPad apps too, and at the same price. Developers are also forbidden from including links inside their app to purchase content or subscriptions outside the app. That even affects products like Amazon’s Kindle app, which includes a link to buy books for Kindle.

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler does a good job of laying out Apple’s likely rationale. The company has created what is likely to be the most user-friendly subscription service anywhere. In order to make it work, however, publishers can’t just increase the prices within their apps to incorporate Apple’s 30 percent cut while leaving subscriptions lower elsewhere. Otherwise, users will be torn between the superior experience and the lower price.

That may be true, but it’s not sitting well with everyone. Rhapsody, for example, says that its subscription model won’t work if Apple takes a 30 percent cut, and that it will be “collaborating with our market peers in determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development.” At the Think Vitamin “web practioner’s blog”, Ryan Carson argues that this should be the spur developers need to finally embrace mobile websites using technology like HTML5, rather than building native apps that are subject to Apple’s rules.

Of course, the App Store has faced to developer criticism from the beginning, yet the number of apps keeps growing. While I’ve seen a few startups who focus exclusively on mobile Web or Android, they’re pretty rare.

So I’m very curious to see to most developers will continue to play ball with Apple, or if this will be the restriction that pushes them over the edge. My guess: As is often the case, this will come down to money. If companies can still make a profit through Apple’s new model, most of them will learn to live with it.(Source:venturebeat)


上一篇:

下一篇: