Publish an iOS app and pay less than 99$/year through "generic publisher"?

Question

So, I have an idea for an iOS app. After some research I noticed that to publish the app at the Apple's App Store I have to enter the Developer Program and pay 99$ a year. That's too much for a simple app that I don't even know if it's going to sell at all.

My concept: a "publisher" that officially publishes your apps and also the apps of other developers. The more developers the publisher has the less each one has to pay for that Developer Program. So the publisher would pay the 99$ and its (for example) 99 developers would only pay a dollar each!

Does such thing exist? If so, where can I find a list of those publishers? If not, why not?

Answer 1

3 years and a bounty and still no answer so I will try to give some more insight into the state of things. I will caveat with, this is somewhat of an off topic question for this site, as well as this modified excerpt from the MIT License:

THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE INFORMATION OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE INFORMATION.

First of all, as many of the comments have noted, most applications just flat out flop at this point. There is a pretty substantial barrier of entry with the app store model and the sheer number of apps for sale/free is only one reason.

Second, if there was a cheaper way to get on the app store at this point it would likely just ensure even more shovelware. Apple is already guaranteed the $99 each year from developers so I'm sure they are more then content with this model. They don't need to rely on the performance of the many (or in this case many many many).

There are, however, a few different ways to publish applications the first three are the officially sanctioned methods:

1. Individual Program ($99 a year)
2. Organization Program ($99 per seat per a year)
3. Enterprise Program ($299 per year Internal distribution aka: no app store)

Now there is also the somewhat controversial method of Jailbreaking which is obviously not sanctioned by Apple and may not be legal in your country either. So far, however, this is legal in US and Canada and some others.

The most common "store" outside of the app store is Cydia and some publishers even sell apps here. This is not in and of itself illegal either, but again it is a grey area and you would be best advised to seek legal council if you seriously want to pursue.

The other downside is that your customers would also be required to Jailbreak their systems in order to purchase from such a store. So you are likely targeting a more advanced form of user who is also more likely to circumvent any protections you may have on your product.

I am no lawyer, but from what I can tell there isn't anything stopping a publishing model mentioned above. Apple has allowed for the transfer and sale of applications which is pretty near close to what you are describing. Theoretically you could come to some agreement with a third party publishing entity which would be a paying Apple developer program participant. They would publish the application with their own credentials and act on whatever said agreement specifies as far as payment, royalties, etc.

I do not, however, know of any existing publishers that work under this model. You would likely then be under the stipulations of both Apple and this new entity in order for approval. If this model were to catch on it is also very likely Apple would amend their terms of service as they so have the right from time to time. It would then take further legalities in order to combat any extra stipulations here.

Note: It has also been possible for some time now to bypass code signing. This again is not something Apple wants you to do, but there isn't anything illegal about it, at least in some countries as mentioned above. This allows you to develop and test on your Jailbroken device.

I hope you find this information helpful.