Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster this week challenged Apple to eliminate the company’s $98.99 per year subscription fee for the Apple Developer Program.
The Apple Developer Program allows developers to reach customers around the world on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and iMessage, and on the Safari Extensions Gallery and provides access to beta software, advanced app capabilities, extensive beta testing tools, and app analytics.
Gene Munster for Loup Ventures:
Apple has risen to the challenge of COVID-19 making WWDC 2020, which kicks off on Mon. June 22, entirely virtual and entirely free. Now, the company has an even more profound opportunity to double down on inclusivity…
As a free online event, the barriers to joining the Apple developer community have never been lower. I’d challenge Apple to take it one step further and reduce or even eliminate the $98.99 per year subscription cost for the Apple Developer Program. All of this is an investment in making the Apple ecosystem better. A more diverse offering of software and solutions is a better offering.
Inclusivity is a competitive advantage for Apple and the company should double down at WWDC20.
MacDailyNews Note: In addition to challenging Apple to eliminate Developer Program subscription fee, Munster covers what he expects at WWDC20, including:
• iOS 14
• New macOS with ARM-based Mac Roadmap
• watchOS 7
• tvOS
• HomePod software
• Potential Hardware Announcements
– AirTags
– AirPods over-ear headphones
– New HomePod or HomePod Mini
The very worst thing about email is that it is free. If you remove the marginal cost from anything, you will be overwhelmed by bots, fraudsters and fakers. Reviewing apps takes serious resources and there is no reason that successful app develops should be expected to subsidise fraudsters and fakers, or indeed unsuccessful developers.
Keep it at 100 dollars do not make it free the ecosystem is fine, those that want to be apart of the ecosystem are already there. Freeloaders won’t help.
Gene is dumb on many levels. Apple needs to charge at least some minimum amount to get a credit card on file. Why? Because when they give out a certificate to a developer it is then resolvable (some name address) to a real person. That makes it a bit harder to put in virus’d up malware on the system and for the people doing it to have no consequences.
Does Gene give significant stuff away for free? No. But he should so that the barrier to entry for his stuff is a better experience. But the point is that he was and will continue to be a Microsoft, anti-Apple shill.
Gene: I think it would have been better to recommend that Apple lower their memory prices. In your release, you could state that while the customer has committed to the CPU purchase, many customers order with the base level of ram, so they “fill-up” the machine with ram ordered later from 3-D party vendors.
You could also add, with a friendly tone of mocking inquisitiveness, “why Apple would sell ram at these high levels after all these years–knowing that many go elsewhere? With a nice price drop–still allowing for decent margins–many might forego the 3-D party hassle and load up the ram online with Apple…keeping more business at home.
Thanks Gene…I’d appreciate a rewrite. It could be timely for the rumored new iMac announcement.
Except that now, the RAM is non-upgradable in any Apple laptop, the iMac Pro, and fairly difficult on the Mac mini.
You are smoking crack….the iMac Pro is certainly able to have its RAM upgraded. /sheesh
For those of you who don’t know, a majority here, it seems, Gene has been one of the longest, and strongest supporters Apple has had. When Apple looked as though they was on the way out, he was telling everyone that they were wrong, and that Apple was going to resurge. He was right. I’ve long thought that Apple should have a free tier. Only if you submit an app should Apple charge you a yearly fee. Apple does have free student developer accounts, so it’s not exactly strange.