[ForHackernews]

Wait, am I understanding correctly that Apple and Google actually charge developers money to produce the content that Apple and Google monetize on their app stores?

[athirnuaimi]

They charge to have access to the dev tools and the right to publish apps. There are real costs to doing this right and I believe most developers are happy to pay.

[chillydawg]

Other than the 30% fee they charge and ad revenue generated via the apps? Please. That fee is 100% an anti spam mechanism.

[simonh]

IIRC it’s about $100 or so per year. Basically hobby money just to make sure anyone submitting apps for review means it.

[glow8]

The Play Store only charges you $25 when you register, $100 a year is for Apple

[lern_too_spel]

That $100 per year is required just to keep apps installed on your own iDevices, let alone submitting them for review.

[simonh]

That hasn’t been true since XCode 7. You can side load apps onto your own devices from XCode with a free developer account, you only have to pay the fee to submit apps to the App Store.

[lern_too_spel]

You cannot "keep apps installed on your own iDevices" because without paying that fee, you have to re-sign and reinstall your apps every week.