Developers Union Releases Letter against Apple, Grabbing Attention toward Issues
A group of developers from Apple has formed the Developers Union. Recently, the union released an open letter to the company. It contains historically non-negotiable policies of the company, including the company’s permission to preview the app. It also talks about how big of a cut Apple gets from apps’ profits.
The letter states that the union believes that people creating the great software, the developers, should be able to make a living doing it. It also states that the Developers Union is created to support sustainability in the App Store.
Brent Simmons is the unofficial spokesperson of the group. He has designed and developed many apps across platforms. NetNewsWire is the most famous and major RSS reader of the mid-aughts.
Simmons proclaimed that although the union is not thinking about ruling out any protest, it believes that Apple will listen to a group of developers. He added that the union hopes the letter will have more impact than Apple’s private discussions with developers. He explained that the union had approached to the company, but there was no comment from the company side on the same.
The Developers Union wants Apple to set up new policies. In the letter, the union insists the company provide the customers with free preview option before downloading the app. This will allow consumers to take a trial of the app before they buy it.
Currently, Apple is providing the free trial service to the customers who have subscribed to that app. So, many non-subscribing customers hesitate to buy an expensive app with the fear of wastage of money as they can’t take a trial of that app before purchasing it. The union also wants to discuss the revenue sharing issue with the company.
Recently, Amazon also has announced the launch of its new app store, named Marketplace Appstore. It is equipped with various tools, which are created specifically to help its sellers. It allows for managing the inventory and orders easily.