TinyGrab Stops Developing On iOS Platform. Will Dropbox Follow?
February 21, 2011
The open rebellion against Apple is growing. Just hours after Arc90 publicly berated the Cupertino, California-based company over its new subscription model, another company has followed suit.
TinyGrab lets desktop users grab screenshots and send them to others using a URL. Its is then shared using e-mail, an IM window, or through Facebook and Twitter, for example.
A free app by the same name arrived in the App Store late last year for the iPhone/iPod touch.
The folks at TinyGrab are so upset at Apple over its new subscription model; they have decided to stop supporting their iOS app.
According to a posting on the company’s blog, they explain their dilemma.
TinyGrab stated that they make money by offering premium accounts through their site using Paypal. They do so because that service allows TinyGrab to gather information about their customers, which is then used directly to unlock the premium content.
Through its in-app purchasing system, Apple will not pass on a user’s data to developers. Hence, it isn't a good fit for a company like TinyGrab which needs this information.
TinyGrab believes they have no choice but to stop supporting their app since Apple’s new policy requires developers to use its subscription model.
Then there’s the issue of Apple demanding 30 percent of each sale. On this, TinyGrab is enraged.
They stated:
Apple would now like a slice of our pie, which is fair enough. We’re more than willing to give Apple a cut of the sales that they assist in, but we can’t. They simply won’t let us. Never mind the fact that 30% is a ridiculous amount to ask us to fork over, considering that we already pay $99 a year for the privilege to develop apps for the Mac App Store and a further $99 a year to develop apps for the iOS store. Never mind that Apple also get a cut of any revenue that we generate from selling our apps through their stores, they now want in on our account and subscription service.Meanwhile, Cult Of Mac worries Dropbox might follow TinyGrab out of the App Store, since its revenue is generated in a similar way. This would be a huge blow to Dropbox customers, who have become accustomed to using the service with iDevices. When will Apple get the point and revise its policy? What do you think? Leave your comments below.