

My experience of selling the same apps on iOS and on Android (with numbers) - BenoitEssiambre
http://speedanatomy.blogspot.com/2010/10/iphone-vs-android-app-sales-numbers.html

======
muhfuhkuh
It's the "Sophie's Choice" for mobile developers: Give up your sense of
freedom and openness for smaller exposure but 2x the revenue, or work on your
own terms in front of a large and receptive base of customers who loves the
sizzle but is "meh" when it comes time to pay for the steak.

Perhaps there will be a critical mass that forms when the geek legion
legitimizes the cool factor of Android devices and the consumer comes in and
starts snapping up apps in the same way it does on iOS, but, if you _have_ to
make a choice between the two right now, which would it be?

Unfortunately, I have to go where the money is.

~~~
dminor
Given that his Android revenues are 50% of iOS, seems like supporting both is
where the money is.

I'm surprised it's that high actually - not long ago people were throwing out
figures like 10%.

~~~
elblanco
Looking at it another way, most companies would sell one of their vice
presidents to figure out a way to get 50% more business. This could be an easy
route to increasing revenue.

~~~
msy
That depends entirely on the cost of maintaining two very different codebases,
keeping track of two different APIs....

~~~
elblanco
It's probably less than the 50% bump in revenue, and likely cheaper than
building it the first time since you can reuse tons of assets...(of course
provided that it's 50% of something sufficient).

Let's be realistic about what we're talking about here, most phone apps are
not multi-million dollar, multi-year AAA development efforts. They're
typically made by a couple guys over a few months. That's why the typical app
per-unit price is so low compared to the typical app-per unit price for
desktop software. In the case of a "AAA" title, we're likely talking about
something that's multi-platform anyway...code is generally cheap, art assets
and design is expensive. A great example, Plants vs. Zombies for desktops is
$20, for the iPhone it's what...$4? Yet it was completely worth it for PopCap
to rebuild the entire game for the i-platforms (twice!)

In other words, if it's not worth doing it for a 50% revenue bump, it probably
wasn't worth doing it the first time either.

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pchristensen
Summary: Android marketplace has more free downloads, fewer paying downloads,
and requires more support.

Also, yuck:

"Another hypothesis is that I might still be disadvantaged by being Canadian.
For example yesterday I received a support e-mail for someone who is usually
able to purchase apps with his credit card but wasn't able to pay for my apps.
The Google Checkout support site states: "The types of cards accepted through
Google Checkout are based on the seller's location."

"I get a few e-mails per day about failed credit card transactions. It's
possible that this happens with Apple also and that they simply hide it from
us but it's worrisome nonetheless. All of this also amounts to an annoying
level of e-mails and considerable amount of time spent answering support mail
for stuck installations."

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p_h
Have any other Canadians had trouble selling apps on Android?

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slantyyz
I'm curious how Apple handles the HST for Canadian developers selling to
multiple countries.

~~~
msbarnett
Pretty simply; the buyer's location is known, and Canadian sales tax rules are
much simpler than US ones: the buyer's province is all that matters. They add
the tax rate for that province (if any) and the Federal GST, or a blended HST
if that exists for the province, or no tax if the buyer isn't in Canada.

It beats having to set a bunch of money aside and work it out yourself at year
end.

~~~
slantyyz
Do they collect and remit the HST, or do they pass it on to you for remitting
to the CRA?

Sorry, I'm not an iPhone developer, and I was always wondering how the
accounting would be handled.

~~~
elai
I'm fairly certain that since they are the 'retailer' they collect and remit
the hst. What the store pays you isn't subject to hst.

~~~
slantyyz
What about the 30% commission?

I'm assuming they charge you HST on that which you can recover in your HST
filings?

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mehmeta
I think this (Double your price! (and no, I'm not kidding) -
<http://tinyurl.com/3xcounq>) is a must read for you, particularly concerning
the MD versions of your app.

~~~
elcron
Direct
link:[http://jacquesmattheij.com/Double+your+price+(and+no,+Im+not...](http://jacquesmattheij.com/Double+your+price+\(and+no,+Im+not+kidding\))

~~~
pohl
I get a 404 with your link, but the tinyurl above works.

~~~
ABrandt
I got a 404 as well. Somehow elcron missed an apostrophe in "I'm" in the
address he posted. Interesting that the URL shortened version actually
preserved the link integrity in this case.

Ironically, you can read an argument against shorteners on this same blog
here-- <http://jacquesmattheij.com/Down+with+URL+shorteners>

Note: I avoid shortened links like the plague, just an interesting
observation.

