this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
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“Apple’s bullshit” wouldn’t be an issue if they just released it on the AppStore and forego the AltStore all together. The CTF does not apply if they distribute exclusively on the AppStore. CTF is only applicable if the developer chooses to opt in to the new business agreement and distribute their app outside of the AppStore.
Since they’ve already demonstrated the App qualifies for distribution in the AppStore, as shown with the rest of the worlds’ listing, there’s no reason for them to disable it in the EU and push it on to the AltStore. The only reason they needed it on the AltStore is because they know people won’t care enough to jump through any scare screens to install the AltStore if all they’ve got to offer is some clipboard management app that very few people care about. So, instead, they bicker about the CTF and try to convince people the fee is for “Apple bullshit”, when the act of putting it on AltStore actually ends up costs them and everyone else more. The cynics amongst us might even say this is in the end helping to line Apple’s pockets so the developer here is actually an Apple shill… hmmm maybe that’s a bit too far?
He’s most likely just leveraging Delta as a way to force EU people into the AltStore and this makes it yet another greedy person. We had the Apple tax, now we've the Riley Testut tax for Europeans. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
You’re probably partially right, he made the Altstore specifically for his emulator and since Apple doesn’t like people using other app stores they changed their own rules last second to allow them in, as there’s basically no downside of doing so.
The Altstore has plans to open up to other apps as well, but why not put your own apps on it, especially if they are the only ones currently available.
The "Riley Tax" as you called it is mostly just an Apple tax though and to pay for infrastructure. I don’t see him getting rich from that.
I believe everyone should read this: https://developer.apple.com/support/core-technology-fee/
I'm not saying he wants to profit from this ("greedy"), it's all about pushing people into the AltStore. I don't even believe the AltStore pricing is sustainable unlike he says on the announcement... he's most likely have to increase the price later on once he gets more Apps over there.
It looks a lot like he just wanted to release the AltStore and for that he was forced to accept the "new terms". This in turn lead to the current situation where Europeans have to pay more. He could've still done it and proceeded to publish Delta on the EU App Stores and charge the fee there instead of pushing AltStore down people's throats. OR he could've not accepted the terms all together and distributed Delta for free on EU Stores / without being charged the CTF (losing AltStore in the process).
Another thing he could've done was release the AltStore under a different developer account so the Delta account could use the old terms (no Apple Tax) and the AltStore one would use the new terms.
Look, I was even okay with paying 0,50€, 1€ or 10€ for the App but only if it was distributed through the App Store. It would take care of the potential > 1M download CTF fee and he would profit as well. No harm there. What he did instead was to gatekeep the app from the App Store in order to force people into the AltStore. Forcing people into the AltStore and a yearly fee is at least less than ideal.