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by gamble 5789 days ago
Before poo-poo'ing the idea, consider that a conspiracy isn't required for Google to be unconcerned with paid app sales. Android only exists because Google was afraid of being cut out of mobile search advertising. Their priority has been getting a competitive OS with a prominent Google search box on as many handsets as possible. Paid app revenue is something of a sideshow. (Even with paid apps, Android isn't going to turn a profit in the short term, so why worry about minor revenue streams?) I'm sure Google doesn't want a shitty, disorganized app store that can't collect payments or rampant piracy, but they aren't exactly hurting Android yet, so why should they worry about it?

Edit: Even worse, Google apparently doesn't get any revenue from paid app sales. Their 30% cut goes to the carrier. (Thanks gregholland!)
1 comments
nonane 5789 days ago
The paid App Store or Android market will never be a revenue stream for Apple or Google. In fact it is probably designed to be break-even at best. They need interesting apps to push their respective platforms further - that's where the gold mine is for both companies (apple gets to sell more hardware and goog gets more searches)
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gamble 5789 days ago
Yep, the difference between them is that Apple had the luxury of waiting a year before tackling the app store (and experience with iTunes to draw from) whereas Google needed an app store on Day 1, albeit a store they could neglect.
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Tichy 5789 days ago
The Apple App store sucks, too.
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berntb 5789 days ago
Point, but they also got something existing to copy -- and be compared against.
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forgottenpaswrd 5789 days ago
Point, it is way easier(and far less work) to copy than to design something from scratch.
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berntb 5789 days ago
That was half of my point; the other half is that the copy will be compared to the original.

When you steal a design and reimplement, only Microsoft (ten years ago, not now) got away with doing it worse...

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jberryman 5789 days ago
I guess the app store has accounted for about 1% of Apple's profits since 2008:

http://www.cultofmac.com/analyst-app-store-just-1-percent-of...

Seems like a pretty huge return on investment, although a small percentqge of their overall profits. Hilariously most of Apple's percentage of an app sale goes to CC companies

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