Symbian in Motion

Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

by Zach at 3:51 pm | February 24th, 2008 | Category: Tangents

A couple of weeks ago I posted on BGR about Handango’s revised CDA. Long story short, Handango sent a warm cheery email to all developer partners about what a great year 2007 was for the mobile software industry and for Handango. At the end of the email was a link to the revised Handango Content Distribution Agreement (CDA) that takes affect on March 15 of this year.

The most notable change to the agreement was the revised royalty schedule. As of March 15 developers will only receive 50% of gross revenue up to $250,000. This is down from 60% as defined in the current CDA. I doubt that there are more than three or four developers who do more than $250K in sales through Handango alone, but those who do will enjoy 60% of gross sales between $250K - $1M, and 70% over $1M. Ridiculous.

Handango also doesn’t do enough for their customers. As with most industry leading companies, Handango takes their customers for granted. Some examples? How about charging an extra $5 per title for “download protection”? If you want to be able to re-download an application that you purchased for up to one year it will cost you. As if it costs money for Handango to store a 1MB file on their servers. And have you tried to order apps for your device according to “popularity”? Let’s have a look at today’s top 5 for the N95:

  • Quickoffice Premier 5.0 ($69.95) ——– 1,483 downloads
  • Handy Tools Pack for S60 ($99.95) ——– 18,515 downloads
  • WorldMate Professional for Series 60 ($69.95) ——– 64,872 downloads
  • ProfiMail (Symbian) ($27.99) ——– 76,446 downloads
  • Handy Safe for S60 ($39.95) ——– 25,676 downloads

Interesting. The first thing to note is that all of these titles are very expensive as far as mobile software goes. Casting that tidbit aside, let’s look at the download numbers. Title one, Quickoffice Premier 5.0, has been downloaded a total of 1,483 times. Because there is no trial available, is stands to reason that that number is relatively close to total sales (not taking re-downloads into account). Now the fourth title on the list, ProfiMail, has been downloaded 76,446 times. There is a trial, but if LCG converted just 2% of those trials into sales then they will have outsold Quickoffice Premier 5.0. Believe me, LCG has converted WELL OVER 2% of their Handango trials. So is popularity calculated monthly? Even if it is, I can guarantee that Quickoffice Premier 5.0 is not the best-selling software title for the N95 this month. Yet it is still at or near the top of the list each and every month. Hmmm…

I haven’t discussed this in any SiMo posts, but I do in fact sell via Handango. Why haven’t I mentioned that here? Using this blog as a sales tool for themes is simply not something that interests me - I wouldn’t want to sully my reputation. Anyway, I have created a handful of commercial themes that have been selling on Handango for about a year. Really they were only intended to cover some costs associated with SiMo; a handset here and there, apps that I wanted to review that weren’t generously gifted to me by the developer, etc.

Over the past year, I’ve actually sold several thousands of dollars worth of themes. As of March 15 however, I’m done. Every last one of my themes will be pulled from Handango and I will deactivate my developer account shortly after. Would the extra 10% Handango is taking really have killed me? Absolutely not. It’s simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. I might not sell anywhere near as much as a top seller on Handango, but if others will follow my lead we might just get our point across…

Developers: I understand that Handango is your number 1 source for sales. That WILL change over the next one to two years, I guarantee it. There are so many better options out there already in terms of getting your titles to the public and more are coming. My recommendation is that even if you don’t pull your apps from Handango completely, put some real time and effort into researching alternatives and get your apps up on other sites. There are shops out there with fantastic reach and numbers, and you keep up to 80% of sales from $1 up! Think about it - you can sell over a third less and still make the same money!

Bloggers: Do you have a shop tied to your site? If you do and it’s powered by Handango, I STRONGLY URGE you to find an alternative. There are plenty of other options that have just as many *useful* titles available for sale. I said useful - when Handango issues catalog figures, they include the thousands of terrible themes / video ringtones / flash screensavers / etc that sell three times and then disappear into the chaos. Handango also has a VERY LOW referral payout. Do some research.

Consumers: Plain and simple - DON’T BUY FROM HANDANGO. If you’re interested in an app that for some reason you found on Handango, get it directly from the developer. Maybe the developer’s site doesn’t have a shop, but you can always email them and they’ll likely sell to you direct. Impatient? Google the app name. I’m sure you’ll find it for sale in at least five other shops.

This might seem like a drastic post and maybe it is. The fact of the matter however, is that the mobile market is booming and it will continue to boom. Handango is doing nothing but slowing market growth. They promote the top developers (who can afford to pay ridiculous fees for their marketing) and the rest are left to fend for themselves amongst the madness. Blogs like SiMo, the few in our blogroll and thousands of other mobile tech blogs are great sources in terms of learning about apps. 99 out of 100 times, a blog will link to the developer’s site so you can purchase the app directly if you like it after the trial period.

If you’re a blogger I strongly urge you to do some research and post about this. Link me or don’t link me - I could really care less. Just get the word out. Developers enhance the mobile experience immeasurably and by stunting their growth (as Handango does) the mobile industry as a whole is being stunted…

UPDATE: I thought I’d link some more articles on the matter…

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