handango has lowered its commissions to independent developers from 70% to 60%. is this a sign that their business model isn't working? that's the first thing that comes to my mind. handango allows developers to sell mobile applications without the carrier getting a piece of the action, but is more difficult for most users to download applications.
selling through carriers obviously is working, as JAMDAT announced it would IPO and developers i know distributing through the qualcomm BREW infrastructure are all making decent money on their apps.
and for comparison, the BREW infrastructure pays the developer 80% of the retail price, and these are usually subscription based. so with that in mind, 60% looks less and less attractive...which will drive more developers to do the extra work to distribute through carriers. given, that's all some carriers are paying as well, but with elevated startup costs.
this usually entails joining the carrier's developer program, paying a fee (~=$500), and also purchasing a certificate from verisign (~=$400) - so you need to sell quite a few apps to get a return on investment.
Posted by Steve at July 6, 2004 10:39 AM | TrackBack