← SaaS Go-to-Market
Day 6 of 14
App Store vs Direct Sales
The App Store: Discovery, Trust, and the 30% Tax
The App Store provides three things that are genuinely valuable: distribution (200 million+ users in Australia, New Zealand, and globally), trust (Apple's payment processing and privacy framework reduces friction), and discoverability (App Store search for relevant keywords). These benefits come with a 30% revenue share on the first year and 15% thereafter for subscriptions.
For consumer-facing apps — ShowerBuddy used by individual families — the App Store is likely the primary channel. Families searching for shower safety solutions will find it through search, download it on trust, and subscribe through a familiar payment flow. Removing App Store friction here would cost more conversions than the 30% saving would recover.
For professional/institutional apps — BathCheck sold to OT practices — the calculus changes. An OT practice paying $500/month for 10 seats generates $1,800/year in App Store fees. Billing them directly via Stripe saves that and allows you to offer invoice billing (critical for NDIS providers who use purchase orders), annual prepay discounts, and custom enterprise pricing. The trade-off is higher selling costs and support overhead.
A Hybrid Strategy: App Store Entry, Direct Expansion
The pragmatic path for B2B accessibility apps is: launch on the App Store to minimise initial friction, let users self-serve at consumer price points, then migrate institutional buyers to direct billing as they scale up. Flag the 'Teams' or 'Enterprise' tier prominently with an email or Calendly link ('Get a quote for your organisation') rather than an App Store purchase.
Apple's rules around this are nuanced. You cannot actively direct users away from in-app purchase in the app itself, but you can have a 'Contact us for teams pricing' option that routes them to a web form. Institutions that find you through sales outreach (not App Store discovery) can be billed directly from the start.
Gliderol and Dormakaba integrations or white-label scenarios are fully outside the App Store model — these would be custom SDK or API integrations billed directly, potentially SaaS-style per-door or per-property licensing. This is a B2B enterprise model that bypasses the App Store entirely.
⚡ Today's Action
Calculate your last 12 months of App Store revenue. Apply the 15% or 30% fee to get your actual take-home. Then estimate what a direct billing arrangement would have earned. Does the difference justify the investment in a direct sales motion? Document your answer.
💡 Pro Tip
Check if your product qualifies for Apple's Small Business Program — apps generating under $1M/year pay 15% not 30%, even on the first year of each subscription. Most early-stage apps qualify. Apply at developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/.