Hey Apple, we need to talk about the App Store. The relationship, it's gotten
away from us. I mean it started off so good.
You were amazing, I remember some of the early days. I remember how Steve Jobs
introduced us to you. This is the best deal going to distribute applications to
mobile platforms. Now we talked about the 70/30 revenue split but the developer
gets to pick the price, and you know what price a lot of developers are gonna pick?
Free, right. So when a developer wants to distribute their app for free
there is no charge for free apps at all. There's no charge to the user and
there's no charge to the developer. We're gonna pay for everything to get those
apps out there for free. The developer and us have the same exact interest
which is to get as many apps out in front of as many iPhone users as
possible. And the promise was amazing, you would let us developers who had no
platform no exposure no way to sell our products be on your platform. For the
very first time. It was an amazing time to be an app developer and I owe so much
to you, but things have changed and the App Store has changed. In the early
days it was amazing, you would allow us exposure and visibility and you ran
commercials about us app developers and how we could bring products to the
market but as the App Store grew the app review process started to take hold and
you started to clamp down on how app developers could and couldn't use the
apps now some of the Apple review processes were great. You enforced UI
guidelines you enforced applications to think about online and offline and some
of these things were really good but you also started to clamp down on certain
businesses and at first it was just magazines, it was just newspapers. And
that was okay, or maybe I thought it was okay but I didn't realize that you
started clamping down on more and as the App Store grew the app store review
process started to clamp down more and more on applications of all sorts. At
first it was just game developers, ok magazines, and game developers sure they
pay the 30% Apple tax but all the other businesses but over time
that relationship has strained and strained and Netflix and Dropbox and
Audible and Amazon and many other large companies have fought Apple's app
review process the most recent Hey email application is just the recent
application of a small business really trying to use the platform to get in
front of a large audience and being shut down by Apple but this has been going on
for many years. Apple it's time to reassess the relationship of the App
Store. 30% made a lot of sense when the platform was brand new, when no one was
on it, when it was an opportunity for app developers to join you in a new
adventure. But now that model is different. The App Store is a duopoly.
Apple and Google dominate the ecosystem and it's impossible for a digital
business that's truly digital or mobile first to be out there without an app in
the App Store. So does it make sense for you to be charging digital apps and
digital businesses 30% across the entire board? The App Store has made Apple into
a trillion-dollar business but as developers look at the app ecosystem and
Apple reflects on its relationship with developers it really needs to reassess
what that relationship looks like. Next week is Apple's WWDC conference an
annual conference where the world's best developers come together to see what
Apple is going to unveil in the early days dub-dub was one of the most
important conferences for app developers to be at because it gave them access to
Apple and the relationship with developers. Most recently that
relationship has strained, in just days before dub-dub Apple sends this email to
the Hey founder and CEO. Apple doesn't really value the relationship it has
with developers the way it did before, and it's time that Apple get back to the
roots it had with developers. Developers make the platform. If it wasn't for the
apps on the App Store's and even the free apps on the App Store's the app
ecosystem and Apple would be nothing in terms of what it is today. Apple needs
developers and developers need Apple the relation
has to be symbiotic and Apple should really reassess that relationship. It
shouldn't be strong-arming developers to use Apple pay and in-app purchase it
should be winning on the merits of these platforms. If Apple pay and in-app
purchase is so great, developers should choose to adopt it as opposed to being
strong-armed to use it. You know Apple has long-time prided itself in being a
brand that stands for the rebels, the misfits, the creators, the inventors and
at this point it's really separating itself from the developer community. It's
time for Apple to re-examine the relationship with developers and get
back to making things that are insanely great.
I'm Greg Raiz thanks so much.