Apple might win its battle with Epic, but it'll lose its relationship with developers

By Oliver Haslam
published

App Store
App Store (Image credit: iMore)

As the seemingly never-ending spat between Apple and Epic Games begins to wind its way to a conclusion, most people seem to be of the opinion that there is only likely to be one winner. It isn't thought that Epic has done a particularly good job in court and, as a result, Apple will be the victor. But not in the eyes of developers who have spent the last couple of weeks being told how they owe everything to Apple, the iPhone, and the App Store.

Some developers have long had a feeling of unease with the way Apple talks about – or more accurately, down to – them and those in their line of work. Apple often shares press releases with huge numbers in them, pointing out that it has paid unimaginable sums to developers by way of App Store fees. Seemingly forgetting the fact it's not giving those developers anything – they're being paid for their apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions.

That feeling of unease hasn't been helped by various emails coming out of the court case that makes Apple look pretty poor in terms of the way it thinks about developers. And then things really went downhill when CEO Tim Cook told everyone that he would expect developers to pay their way for access to the App Store even if payments weren't handled by its own system.

Also, we would have to come up with an alternate way of collecting our commission. We would then have to figure out how to track what's going on and invoice it and then chase the developers, it seems like a process that doesn't need to exist.

Protocol's Nick Stat hits the nail on the head with a tweet from earlier today.

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Apple sees everything in the App Store as its domain. Apps created by developers – both big and small – are all there thanks to Apple and those developers should be eternally grateful for that. I'd wager Apple would do well to remember that the App Store wouldn't exist without developers and their apps, too.

The relationship between the App Store and developers is a symbiotic one. You can't have one without the other. Arguments about 30% commission, 15% commission, and third-party payment systems are all a sideshow to the real problem here – Apple sees developers as customers at best and a necessary evil at worst. And it's that attitude that runs the risk of alienating some of the very best developers on the planet.

On the eve of another WWDC where we expect some big changes to iOS and iPadOS, that's a very bad thing indeed.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

4 Comments
  • "Apple sees everything in the App Store as its domain." True and no reason why it shouldn't: it's the "Apple App Store." Duh.
    "Apps created by developers – both big and small – are all there thanks to Apple and those developers should be eternally grateful for that." They certainly should--but you wouldn't know it now that big winners like Epic and a minority of other smaller developers are complaining so loudly that small fish like iMore are climbing on board.
    "I'd wager Apple would do well to remember that the App Store wouldn't exist without developers and their apps, too." Ummm...sure it could. It wouldn't have the vast numbers of apps, but Apple could make hundreds of excellent apps, if it had to do so. The App Store wouldn't be as profitable but, ah, last time I checked, the company does pretty well in other areas.
    "The relationship between the App Store and developers is a symbiotic one. You can't have one without the other." Again, yes you could.
    Like the developers, iMore wouldn't exist without Apple and you wonder what compels them all to bite the hand that feeds them....leftover authority/dependency issues from childhood?!
    I mean, c'mon: somebody comes up with a stupid, time-wasting game app and makes thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars and they're complaining that the platform and distribution channel takes a cut?
  • I could not disagree more with the premise of this opinion piece. Developers know full well that their bread and butter is Apple’s App Store, NOT the Google Play store. And the author of this piece thinks major developers will abandon the platform. Gimme a break.
  • I have to agree with you. I see no reason this would change much with developers. If nothing changes, it will be as it has always been. Developers understood the environment, they still do. Epic is just big enough to try to get bigger at Apple's expense. Apple has already lowered the 'commission/rent' in the store to 15% for those making under $1M a year. If you are making $850,000 in app sales in the store, you are doing pretty well, and it is because you are in the store.
  • What a load of baloney. Developers make 80% of their money on iOS apps. Android may have more users, but Apple has the users that developers care about: those users who are willing and able to pay for apps.