iPhone Developers Threaten To Sue Apple Over Late Payments
by Dave Clarke
May 1, 2009
There's no doubt that the key to the Apple App Store's success has been the highly talented developers who have created thousands and thousands entertaining and useful applications. One of the driving factors for developers is the unique and generous revenue sharing model that Apple has in place (70% of the price of the app gets pocketed by the developer 30% by Apple).
While there have been numerous interviews with developers who report that they've been able to quit their day job as a result of the success of their App Store app, there appears to be some developers being left out in the cold by Apple when it comes to receiving payment for the sales of their products. This problem does not seem to be an isolated incident.
TechCrunch reports that a group of iPhone Developers are threatening to sue Apple for non-payment. For some of the developers cited in the article, they haven't been paid since as far back as November 2008 and e-mails to Apple have only resulted in what amounts to be further frustration.
Whether or not these are the only developers to run into non-payment from Apple for their hard work is unknown at this point, but with the number of apps clearing the approval process on a daily basis, I think it's safe to assume that if this was a widespread issue, the wheels at the App Store would come to a grinding halt. The question remains though, why is Apple balking on paying certain developers without providing any solid explanation?
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