Symbian in Motion - Latest Comments in Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

bodogbobby — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:12:11 -0000

I absolutely hate it when a company tried to screw the people that helped to build the foundation that made it what it is today. We need to have loyalty instilled in our psyche again. Japan is a great example of a country that is great with loyalty among its company members.

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Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

gossip girl Claire — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:08:06 -0000

Why not Handango? I do not purchase anything from them, but with what I have read it sounds awful. Glad I haven't had any transactions with them. Anyways, try giving an alternative for Handango.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

ashokeban — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:47:54 -0000

Great Post!

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Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Watch Family Guy Online — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:02:21 -0000

This was deep. I am going to keep up with this.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

garage door hardware — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:55:40 -0000

I so agree with you! They shouldn't.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

sparesr4sissies — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:50:49 -0000

They shouldn't be able to get away with this. Autolautsprecher

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

toilet repair — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:23:44 -0000

I will do some research about this. Thank you very much. I am just starting to blog.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

picture cataloging software — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:49:15 -0000

whoa.. now this is getting more and more interesting, thanks for the updates, the information was really nice..

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Fat Loss 4 Idiots Diet — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:19:59 -0000

There are so many hosting services out there it is hard to say which one is best. Everyone has opinions and it just matters what is best for each instance.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

custom server — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:27:10 -0000

Handango isn't the best hosting service out there, that's for sure, although many of its users tend to praise it. Now I'm not sure what to believe anymore.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Clickbooth — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:48:46 -0000

So people started writing about this. I really enjoyed Electronista's post. The author really spoke his/her mind.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

consumer product testing — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:44:35 -0000

I really appreciate the Handango's situation, it is difficult to adjust. Maybe some developers didn't understand your situation right now. But I think Handango try their best for the good of their costumers.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Konstantine — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:34:48 -0000

Hi!

I am a developer and I think that such situation can be. Thank you for your post, the best way surely is to make the shop of your own, when you have much content (as we have) - maybe about 500-600 themes and so on.

Konstantine

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

auto — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:28:02 -0000

Basically, my opinion of the situation is:

The below clause in the handango-developer agreement prevents a developer from offering their product at a lower price in 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 that 30% savings onto consumers because this clause forbids that!

For example, if another software shop only charged 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 (thus, they are not bound by the clause). But this would be like shooting yourself in the foot because Handango is the biggest shop and provides the highest sales count 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?

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.

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.

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. Then, 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.

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!

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Simon — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:24:32 -0000

If you are a developer. Read it and send to other.

1. Double check what Handandgo paid to you. I did. In all mine 7 checks money are missing. In each one, no exceptions! Range is from 15 to 78 USD. That is why they are not sending with check the calculation list which will show how that total amount was calculated. They also do not have that information on their website. They have all purchases listed, but there is no information
which one included in what check. NONE! That is the biggest secret ever. That is where Handango is simply stealing developers money!
Try to ask them what payments are included in that check and you will not get the answer. They will refer you to website, they will refer to agreement,
they will tell you anything except the answer.

2. I know at least a few dirty tricks that Handandgo plays.
Here is the most popular one - the so called discount codes on Handandgo. I have investigated and I got confirmation from a few customers that they have paid the full amount, but Handandhgo is showing to developer that software was sold with discount price! Guess who got that money difference in their pocket? Letter to Handango.. no answer.
Check you payments at Handanago, find the discount ones, write letter to customer and ask how much did they pay in reality, compare that with Handango message to you.
You have a good chance to have some discoveries!

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

mormon — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:16:28 -0000

amazing.. i want to see handandgo developer earning >250k! do you know one? best things in life are free, will stick to freeware for ever.

www.handywi.com

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

SB — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:52:14 -0000

I once asked Handango about the 'download protection', because I have bought soft for well over $500 (I've stopped counting) and now it is gone! The reply was that the huge costs of storing files is the reason. When I replied that what they earned from just me as a single costumer was enough to pay for the needed hard drives (it is, do the math), they closed my case, refusing to respond.

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Zach — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:12:22 -0000

The one you mentioned is definitely a top alternative. I've intentionally neglected to name specific options so as to not appear biased. There are a bunch out there though - we can chat directly on that.

Regarding "the ease and library of Handango", I agree that their referral program is easy. It's basically the AdSense of software shops. Anyone can set it up fast and easy and it might even make the top 5% - 10% of sites some decent money. For the rest though, it's just another way that Handango spreads themselves as wide as possible and diminishes the value of a product. A few sales here and there will make you pennies; multiply that amongst all of the smaller sites that Handango has referral deals with and they're making dollars...

Re: Handango Tries to Screw Developers - Will Developers Respond?

Ricky — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:13:40 -0000

Zach, I'm interested to know the 'other' alternatives for bloggers looking to setup a software shop. For instance, on Symbian-Guru.com, we review quite a bit of software, and I'm really interested in setting up a shop, or at least affiliate links, so long as it doesn't cost the consumer any more money, I don't see an issue with this.

However, I've done a bit of research and the only other option that I've found, for bloggers, is MobiHand, which powers several of my blogger friends' 'stores'. However, they're not looking to add any at the moment.

I've not found any that offer the ease and library of Handango. I'm not trying to be an ass, just calling you out on your statements. :)