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© 2008 Jason Delport
Nokia Ovi Store is opening soon so I've been following all the analysis. It's looks like it's going to be prohibitive for small developers to get their Java ME applications into the store. Here are some calculations I have been doing to find the break even point.
Upfront Costs (these need to be investigated further)
Get application Java Verified: $350
Join Ovi Store: $200/annum
Deploy application to store: $20
Ongoing Costs (based on selling 500 applications @ $2/app)
Let's assume 300 apps are paid for via network operator billing.
65% of $600 = $390 (tax, costs and network operator fees)
30% of $210 = $63 (Nokia's fees)
Developer gets $147 of the $600.
200 apps bought via credit card.
15% of $400 = $60 (tax + costs)
30% of $340 = $102 (Nokia's fees)
Developer gets $238 of the $400.
Total for developer after 500 apps sold
$1000 (gross) - $570 (upfront) - $615 (ongoing) = -$185 (net)
What this means is that to cover the costs of publishing a $2 application you need to sell well over 500 copies. And that's not even taking the development costs into account! If all your application purchases get paid for via the network operator billing mechanism then the developer gets virtually nothing. Another issue is that it seems Nokia will only pay you once you have 500 Euro in credit in your account.
Update: fixed my calculations.
Well.. this is no good way to do business with small creative developers.
There must be a other route to market that is more efficient. Someone needs to build that soon
Re-read section 5.2 of the latest version of the Publisher Guide. There is an important detail there that you are overlooking that affects the cost calculations substantially.
Nokia might be planning to charge for access eventually but so far I've not had to pay anything except for my Publisher ID and Symbian Express Signed. A Symbian Signed Publisher ID costs $200/year but a Java ME developer doesn't need (and can't use) a Publisher ID.
I haven't uploaded my apps yet but I don't think it costs $20 to do so--it seems to be free. Maybe you got that figure from a forum thread discussing the costs? If so, I think the poster was referring to the $20-a-pop fee for Symbian Express Signed Content IDs.
Anyway, I don't really have a problem with the costs associated with publishing apps on Ovi so far. The Ovi Store is a lot cheaper than some other stores I have to deal with.
I also don't quite get why Nokia isn't getting any kind of discount on the carrier billing. I've been quoted rates for carrier billing for my tiny company that were lower than the rate Nokia is claiming. It is strange that they claim that the rate is the same for every carrier in every country; all the pricing I've been given has shown quite a lot of variance between countries and between carriers in each country. Plus, in every case except Italy, the rate I was quoted was less than the rate Nokia says the carriers are charging. It really looks like we are getting a horrible deal there in the name of simplicity. I wish it was possible to pass the cost of operator billing to the customer. I think that would be a very good way to get operators to reduce their cut. Unfortunately, the only options publishers have right now are "no operator billing" and "bend over".
Thanks for the detailed feedback Brian. I got the sign up and publishing information from a friend so I need to do some more research. The Java Verified and operator costs are the most problematic issues for me though.