Viva La Resistance! Software Developers Leaving Handango?!

[Mike Temporale]

Originally Posted by John Cody

After what they did to me:

Handango & John Cody

I don't feel sorry for them one bit

Hey John, Your situation is the first thing that came to mind when I read this. Pretty freakin' bad, eh? How can Handango expect developers to take this? Sure, they may be the biggest mobile store, but with actions like this, they won't be for long. 50% - just for processing payment is stupid.

I think the only way that something like this can work is if a number of the major ISVs all decide to leave Handango at the same time. It's pretty clear that they don't care about the small developer - so it's up to the big guys to help show Handango that they can't push developers around. Without developers, they have NOTHING.

[Mike Temporale]

Originally Posted by John Cody

After what they did to me:

Handango & John Cody

I don't feel sorry for them one bit

Hey John, Your situation is the first thing that came to mind when I read this. Pretty freakin' bad, eh? How can Handango expect developers to take this? Sure, they may be the biggest mobile store, but with actions like this, they won't be for long. 50% - just for processing payment is stupid.

I think the only way that something like this can work is if a number of the major ISVs all decide to leave Handango at the same time. It's pretty clear that they don't care about the small developer - so it's up to the big guys to help show Handango that they can't push developers around. Without developers, they have NOTHING.

[Catman51]

When they introduced their customer rip-off policy it was one thing, now a developer rip-off. Handango should be going the way of the Edsel, not around anymore.

[Rocco Augusto]

Originally Posted by Catman51

When they introduced their customer rip-off policy it was one thing, now a developer rip-off. Handango should be going the way of the Edsel, not around anymore.

Who knows, maybe they're just trying to see how quickly they can put themselves out of business

[auto123456]

Basically, my opinion of the situation is:

The below clause in the handango-developer agreement effectively prevents a developer from offering their product at a lower price on another software shop:

"At no time shall the Software's SRP provided to Publisher be higher than the Software's SRP provided to other distributors."

Thus, even if another software store charged developers only a 20% commission (as oppose to Handango's 50%), the developer can't pass on that 30% savings to consumers because this clause forbids that.

For example, if another software shop only charges a 20% fee, you would think it could work like this:

XYZ app sells for $19.95 on Handango, Handango gets 50% = $9.95 profit to developer

XYZ app sells for $12.50 on ABCshop, ABCShop gets 20% = $9.95 profit to developer

In the above example, the developer would still make the same $9.95 profit, but the consumer would save $7.50 by buying it though ABCShop!

The only way a developer could sell a product for less would be to NOT sell it through Handango. But this would be like shooting yourself in the foot because Handango is the biggest shop and provides the most sales volume to developers. So, the developer has to bite the bullet and charge the same price in all software shops

How can another software shop ever be competitive to Handango when the best way to do so (by offering lower prices) is specifically prohibited in Handango's agreement?

Also, because Handango has so many partnerships with cellphone carriers, when a newbie buys a smartphone and selects "purchase software" link, the chances are they are directed to Handango - thus handango gets first sales opportunity for all newbies.

After a newbie gets confortable, they will probably try to find a software store that sells apps at a discount, but because of the above clause, there isn't any. And because all shops charge the same price for the same app, there really isn't any significant incentive for a user to switch from handango.

Handango has the right to charge a premium commission if their market position offers developers higher number of sales. But, I feel that this clause is anti-competitive and Handango is using their market dominance to force developers into agreeing to it.

I feel Handango is in effect dictating the prices that consumers pay for mobile software - thats probably why every shop sells the same app for the same price that Handango sells it for (excluding limited time special offers).

I feel the FTC and other applicable government agencies should investigate this clause to see if it is violating any anti-trust/anti-competitive laws designed specifically to prohibit monopolies from preventing competition.

However, if someone opened up a new software shop that offered 20% off ALL software, EVERYDAY, then the discounted price offered to consumers for an app would NOT be the developers fault, so Handango couldn't scold them under this clause.

Such a shop would have a significant chance to compete against Handango because there would finally be a real reason for users to NOT buy from Handango!

[mga]

Question: Why don't people use PayPal?

The big reason that I can think of is the integration into your website. It isn't ideal to send someone off to another domain to complete the purchase. But on the other hand I believe it has a smaller processing fee than many of the other options.

[PetiteFlower]

I don't know if PocketGear is any better for developers, but I use them because they're much better for consumers. I don't have to pay extra to have an account with them to see what software I've bought in the past, or to re-download files.

[Rocco Augusto]

Originally Posted by mga

Question: Why don't people use PayPal?

The big reason that I can think of is the integration into your website. It isn't ideal to send someone off to another domain to complete the purchase. But on the other hand I believe it has a smaller processing fee than many of the other options.

You could do the same with Google Checkout as well.

[benjimen]

At one point I read somewhere (I think it was at the CorePlayer site) that Mobihand was better for developers -- is that still the case...?

[CUShane]

Count me among the developers who have left Handango as well. The 50% commission was the last straw. I've been fighting with them since the end of January to get my 1099 Form for taxes and I finally got it last week. More on my decision to drop them can be found on my blog at http://www.s-church.net/Blog.aspx?ID=338.

I also would heartily reccommend MobiHand. Not only do they give the developers 80% of the sale price on their site, but they will set up a branded store for the developer in 24-48 hours, for free, and the developer gets 90% of the sale through their branded store.

[MikeKey]

I've bought loads of stuff from Handango over the past 5 years or so and seen for myself this trend toward making things difficult and screwing every possible bit of money from me they can.

Hearing about this has been the last straw, I've just asked their "customer care" to remove my profile from their site entirely.

I have all the registration codes for the apps I've bought in the original emails I was sent anyway, and I'll be damned if I'm ever going to re-download any of this stuff if they're going to charge me for the privilege!

One decidedly unhappy (ex)customer.