Eighty percent of developers in North America think they should receive more than 70% of the revenue generated by their apps in an app store according to the Spring North American Development Survey, an in-depth survey of over 400 developers conducted last month by Evans Data Corp. (http://www.evansdata.com), which provides regularly updated IT industry market intelligence based on in-depth surveys of the global developer population.
Perhaps consequentially, app stores are the preferred distribution model for only 15% of North American developers, with over half preferring direct sales to end-users or enterprises. Additionally, developers bridle against app store imposed restrictions on price and content. Over 70% thought that app stores should not impose any restrictions on price, and while a third thought content restrictions were acceptable, almost half thought there should be none at all.
“Virtually all of the best known app stores have fallen in line directly with the 30 / 70 revenue split that Apple introduced, but there could be a big upside for any vendor bold enough to deviate,” says Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data. “If the app store is more a strategic asset than a revenue center, then providing the developer with a better revenue share model could go a long way toward promotion of that particular distribution channel and thus growth of market share for a technology.”
The survey is the latest in a 12-year series of surveys of developers in North America. Other highlights of the survey include:
° Ten percent currently use Objective C, but that is expected to grow to almost 12% next year.
° Thirty-six percent of developers plan to include services that communicate with messages formally defined via XML Schema
° Almost two-thirds (64%) use agile development techniques at least some of the time.
