[nalpakj]

I'm looking for feedback from developers that have submitted apps to Mobihand for distribution.

I have been working on some Blackberry development and will have them at the point where they are production ready very soon, but am quite put off by the distribution options out there.

Obviously the 2 main Blackberry distribution points would be BB App World and Mobihand (which includes Crackberry, etc, etc).

BB App World seems pretty straightforward to get on to and has an upfront cost to publish apps, $200. But I didn't see anything regarding sales commission on BB App World which is a good thing. EDIT: BB App World does take 20% but is better than 40%.

Mobihand (sorry Crackberry) seems to be pretty brutal in how they take commission. From what I read they take 20% for every sale directly from Mobihand.com and 40% (YES, 40%) for sales from other channels which from what I understand includes the Crackberry.com app store and so many others I've lost count. I would assume most consumers purchase through other channels than Mobihand.com since if you have a Blackberry, you go to crackberry.com, etc.

So I'm physically in pain thinking about the hit that I'd take on sales giving 40% to Mobihand. I understand the distribution services, etc that they provide but these commission levels are rediculous.

So, after all that (which I understand included some ranting), I'm looking for experience that developers have had with either Mobihand or the BB App Store.

[Shao128]

I use mobihand and just started the process for BB Appworld.

Try not to think of it as mobihand taking 40% that would have been going to you, because in reality mobihand/CB provides huge exposure that you wouldnt get from just setting up your own site.

Just off the top of my head Id say about 90% of my sales come through channel sites (like CB). So I dont see it as loosing 40%, but making 60% I wouldnt have made otherwise.

Also the support from Mobihand (in my experience) has been awesome. They always responded to emails Ive sent quickly and Ive been paid on time.

BTW Have you seen what handango takes for commission?

I dont know much about app world yet like I said, still going through the set up process, but I believe they take 20%.

EDIT: Also I dont mind 20% of my sale from CB going to this site, Im sure its expensive to maintain and theyve done a great job helping me promote my products, and they gotta eat too

[nalpakj]

Yes, I understand the exposure that Mobihand provides. I guess my issue isn'tonly with the 40% but with the 'you may not sell your app anywhere for less' clause. So I can't even incent users to purchase through App World with better pricing. Additionally, this defies the whole distribution channel practice where typically for greater distribution you sell for a lesser price. That means everyone in the supply chain does that. But instead when a license is purchased through a channel partner (which from what I understand is the case with most sales) they not only retain their same cut, but take exactly that out of the developer's portion to give presumably to the channel partner. In a normal chain the developer would have a static price to a given distributor. If that distributor chooses in turn to use other channels then that expense comes from their cut...it doesn't get passed on to the developer/manufacturer.

Yes, 60% is better than 0%. But a 40% cut is bordering on what I'd expect from 'The Family' in Jersey. I understand they have expenses and overhead just like other businesses but I for them to make just about what a developer makes on each license sold is pretty much larceny.

I'm having a real hard time getting my head around it.

[nalpakj]

If you honestly don't mind giving up 40% to a supply chain that really only includes one link but charges for two, then you're a much more generous soul than I. Again, compensation is deserved but that's a huge cut for those not developing the app.

With that said, this is my first real jump into this mode of development. I've worked primarily in more large scale, enterprise development for most of my carreer so I assume it just could be that different in mobile. But it still feels like I dropped the soap in the county lockup shower.

[ydaraishy]

If you really need to sell your app and believe in it, then why not just sell it yourself, and market it through other channels? If it's that good, they'll find it, and they'll buy it.

[wfubball]

After selling 2 apps in the mobihand store, the commission usually averages out to about 30% which to me is ok based on the exposure that mobihand and crackberry gives me. It also saves the cost of setting up a store on my site with a secure certificate or the need to have paypal commissions taken out.

For me appworld is just too expensive when I want to sell my apps for less than 2.99

[kapitalk]

The mobihand platform get you great exposure. Plus they take care of all the credit card processing and basic customer service.

Features that App World does not look after.

[QuiteSimple]

Maybe the best way to go is to build your own site with Mobihand powered shopping cart - you get 90% of the sale price and you don't care about payments etc, since it is done by the shopping cart itself. Well, you have to convince customers to buy direct from you, i.e. make your site popular enough

Handango itself is a killer - only 50%.
ClickApps don't sell much BB software at all, and they charge you with additional expenses so you get around 55%
Same for Mobile2Day and Pocketgear.

So Mobihand + partners is the best at the moment. By the way you will see another price cut-off - people often use 20% discount coupons Oh, well, hard time for a indie-developers but it is worth at the end, right?

Cheers,

QuiteSimple

[jomasi]

I just put my first BB app on mobihand it's been about 90% sales from channel sites. Not much experience with them, but great exposure for sure.