Apple's iPhone AppStore digital application signatures explained - developer costs lowest in industry

We already know that Apple plans to lockdown the development environment for iPhone applications made with the iPhone SDK and distributed through the AppStore. But, the question is, just how does Apple plan to keep such a tight leash on all those oncoming applications, and how does that play into the plan to charge a 30% royalty and $99 developer-fee?

Digital Certificates and FairPlay
Security
Developer Costs

Digital Certificates and FairPlay

Roughly Drafted's Daniel Eran Dilger has outlined Apple's digital signing methods and explains Apple's fees. He says that Apple will use a combination of digital application signatures (certificates) and the FairPlay DRM that Apple licensed not too long ago. The digital application signature will serve as authentication that the application being used came from an Apple-trusted source, and that the code has not been altered since the digital signature's signing. The use of FairPlay will help prevent software piracy between iPhone users. Of course, it will still be possible to pirate iPhone applications, but the point is to make it more convenient to plunk down a $5-spot for a new copy than to pirate a friend's copy.

Security

Apple wants complete control over the applications and will offer developers the privelege of publishing iPhone applications as long as the apps are straight-up honest. Any malicious intent or serious bugs, and Apple will revoke the developer's digital certificate much like the DMV can revoke driving licenses. This ensures that legit developers won't be lending their digital certificates to small-time, and possibly shady, developers that want to publish iPhone applications. Why risk losing your certificate to help out a questionable developer outfit?

Furthermore, Apple can simply disable any applications that it finds to be malicious - protecting users after the fact, with another layer of security. This is both bad and good, because that means that all iPhone applications will have to abide by Apple's guidelines and that any deviation from the rules can result in a disabled application (if it even manages to pass initial inspection) and/or revocation of the digital certificate. That means we probably won't be getting any third-party applications running in the background.

Developer Costs

So, what's the deal with Apple's fees? Well, the 30% cut that Apple demands in return for providing the purchasing infrastructure and delivery platform is more than fair. There are a lot of uninformed people out there yelling foul about Apple charging soo much for the privilege of publishing iPhone application, but in fact, the 70% that developers put in their pocket is incredibly generous.

For example, Danger (of Sidekick fame) charges a 50% cut for applications sold through their application store, which is most similar to Apple's AppStore. Handango, which sells Symbian, Palm, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile software (and is recommended by Microsoft to WM developers) takes a 40% cut from small developers (which is going to increase to 50% this month) - while larger developers have to fork over a whopping 60-70% of revenues. Then there's Nokia’s Software Market and Motricity’s Smartphone.net which both take a 40% cut, and sometimes take a 50% cut. Nokia pays developers quarterly, compared to Apple's plan to dole out sales revenue every month.

Then there's the $99 fee that Apple demands in return for the digital certificate needed to publish these iPhone applications. Seems like a rip, right? Consider this - RIM charges the same $100 fee, but it only applies to a single computer. Every single machine that a developer uses has to have signing rights, has to be connect to the internet during the signing process, and has to communicate with RIM's servers for a successful signature.

Developers working on Qualcomm's BREW platform (like those apps from Verizon Wireless) have to dole out $500 for a VeriSign certificate that can only be used on 100 application. It costs $895 to sign 500 applications, and 1000 application signatures costs $1295. VeriSign also requires that “you must apply for, pick up, and install your VeriSign Authentic Document ID on the same computer with the same version of Microsoft Internet Explorer.”

Then there's the Symbian Signed program that oversees development for Symbian OS 9.1 and later. Symbian requires a $200 fee in return for a digital certificate that they call a Publisher ID, which is good for three years. Developers that are enrolled in the "Express Signed" program have to dole out an additional $20 per signed application. And, for full access, developers will be asked to pay up to 500 Euros ($780 US) to enroll in the "Certified Signed" program.

"Earning 70% of tens of thousands of $5 sales is a much better deal than earning 50% of a few dozen $20 titles, or 100% of a handful of sales at $50," says Dilger. "While Microsoft, Symbian, RIM, and others scramble to offer their own software stores that can match iTunes, it will all be too little, too late. Apple has the cohesive platform grabbing the most attention, the most familiar and modern developer tools, and the most most trusted consumer software store."

The $99 fee and 30% cut on Apple's part is starting to sound like a pretty good deal…

[Via: AppleInsider]

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