WWDC 2020: Tech giant Apple likely to sell developers on building new apps amid push back
Facing one of the biggest backlashes from its creators’ community, the Cupertino-based tech giant Apple will walk into its annual development conference i.e. 31st Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), an online tech event.
The third-party developers fuel a services business that generated over $46 billion for the US-based multinational technology company in its last fiscal year, which accounts for almost 18 percent of the iPhone maker’s total revenue. Some of the group’s anger was due to the rejection of a popular email app this week and comes as the tech giant needs to sell developers on building apps for the company’s latest platforms.
Hanging over the developers’ conference is the latest announcement of an investigation by European regulators. Sources said this move could change the way of earning money from Apple and its developers from the App Store. The past week started with the company touting that the App Store generated $519 billion in revenue for the global economy last year. However, It culminated with the rejection of the Hey email app, in part, as the developer would not give the company a cut of the subscription revenue.
“We thought Apple realized that developers made the platform, but this incident has explicitly made clear that Apple sees developers as a source of revenue only,” said Aaron Vegh, a longtime software developer. “And that’s a difficult pill to swallow.” He noted that the action of the past week would be front of mind at the conference.
In a letter rejecting the latest software for the email app, Apple said the developer, Basecamp, hadn’t created revenue for the App Store in 8 years.
“It reads as ‘you have no value to us unless you’re earning us tons of cash,’” Marc Edwards, an experienced App Store developer, wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
A few days out from WWDC, and this is Apple’s message to developers. It reads as “you have no value to us unless you’re earning us tons of cash”. https://t.co/dKZ6uT0ByZ pic.twitter.com/fFelxO5ePr
— Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) June 19, 2020
According to other developers, Apple’s slice of its revenue is basically the cost of doing business and they are happy that the company is handling both app promotion as well as credit card processing. In a statement, Apple said it “developed the App Store with two goals in mind: that it be a safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps, and a great business opportunity for entrepreneurs and developers.”
Apple said it is proud of the developers who found success through its platform. The company also said that 84 percent of apps are free and do not provide Apple with a share of the revenue. Also, Apple’s dealings with developers are under scrutiny from US lawmakers. Still, the California-based company needs the support of the developer community for the changes likely to be unveiled at the conference.
As per the latest inputs, the company might announce a transition from Macs based on Intel chips to computers running its own processors. Also, minor upgrades for the Apple TV set-top box’s software are expected.
For the iPhone and iPad, Apple might announce several new features:
• A new Google Translate-like feature
• Upgraded tools to build augmented reality apps
• Updates to the Podcast service
One of the most anticipated tech events for both developers and consumers, putting together this conference has been a challenge for Apple engineers.