One method is to offer things for sale outside of things for sale to
the outside world that then unlock content in your app. I have a
client that a made an app for that is free to download, but
functionally crippled without an existing account from them (login
credentials unlock access to certain desirable features).
They sell their service online from their website (using wooCommerce),
then their customers download the free app to enter their account
credentials giving them access to the goodies. This sort of works as a
DRM since the goodies can't be procured or shared outside of the app.
End user is paying for a privilege, but that privilege is really only
available from inside the app.
--Andrew Bell
From: "Linda Miller, DVM" <1anml...@gmail.com>
Subject: Apple's 30%--anyway around it?
Message-ID: <836f8096-648b-417a-bd1b-bf39e7a01...@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
I used to create apps and ebooks years and years ago for PDAs. The
only reason that I closed my business was Apple. Let me explain. I
would contract with authors of books to publish an electronic
version of their book. This was a new thing back then. I also had a
website where I sold the apps and eBooks. I would get about 15% of
the sale of every copy of books that I was publishing for Palm's and
Pocket PC's.
Then came the iPhone and Apple's app store. They charged 30% for
the sale of everything. I was not making that much and I was the
creator of the apps and the publisher of the eBooks. I could not
make it with those amounts. There was a way around this that I
could see for the eBooks.
SkyScape was a publisher of medical eBooks while mine were for
veterinarians. They provided a free app. The customer would
purchase eBooks on SkyScape's website. The customer would install
the app on their device through Apple's AppStore and then either on
their computer or their iPhone, they could go to SkyScape.com and
purchase a book. Within the app, they had instructions for how to
download their purchase. There was then a registration number
depending on the device's IMEI(??) number or something that was
specific to that customer.
SkyScape did not have to pay Apple the 30%. They were selling the
eBooks outside of the Apple environment. I could have had a great
business and it would have continued to this day. I spent a LOT of
time and money developing a similar app. It was great. It was
primarily an eBook reader but there were other functions in the app
as well. It could read .txt, ePub, .pdf, HTML, and maybe others, I
don't remember. The steps for purchasing, installing and
registering eBooks was similar to what SkyScape had done.
No matter how many changes I made, Apple kept refusing the app
because I was selling the eBooks outside of their AppStore.
SkyScape's business continues. Mine, I closed. Our businesses were
not competitors. I even sold a few of their products through my
website. I would buy a certain number at a discount and sell them at
the regular price to the customer.
I never could figure out how to get around whatever it was that made
Apple not accept my free app on the AppStore and yet a similar
product they are allowing to this day.
I need help in figuring this out. I have found LiveCode that I can
use for development of apps on the different platforms. I don't
have to learn Xcode again. But, I need to try to decide what to
start developing.
Any suggestions?
If you want to see the process, if I have not explained it well
enough, download the SkyScape app for Android or iOS to your device
(I have not done it recently). There should be some free eBooks to
install either through the app or on their website. This may give
you an idea.
Linda
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