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80% of devs chafe at Apple's App Store cash split

Thank you, Steve. May I have another?

Eighty per cent of North American developers believe that the iPhone App Store's revenue split is unfair, according to a new study from research outfit Evans Data.

The Evans Data Spring North American Developer Survey polled more than 400 developers across the continent, and about 320 of them said they should receive more than the 70 per cent revenue split offered by Apple and all the other mobile app stores that mimicked the Cupertino cult. As a result, app stores are the preferred distribution model for only 15 per cent of those polled.

"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,” reads a canned statement from Janel Garvin, the 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.”

Most of those polled are also peeved about app store restrictions on application price and content. Seventy per cent said there should be no restrictions on price, and fifty per cent chafed at Jobsian app store police barring certain content. A third, however, said they had no problem with content restrictions.

The survey also indicates that 10 per cent of North American developers use Objective C, the language Steve Jobs imposes on iPhone developers, and this is expected to grow to nearly 12 per cent next year. Thirty-six per cent plan to use services that communicate with XML Schema, and two-thirds use so-called "agile" techniques for collaborative development at least some of the time. ®

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