Software as a Service via the App Store

Question

I want to develop and launch an application via the iPhone App Store. The system will be comprised of a Cocoa-touch native iPhone app plus access to an https web service. The iphone app will be useless without access to the web service.

I foresee multiple problems doing this while staying within Apple's terms & conditions:

1 - The paid-for App would include a fixed term (1 month) access to the web service. How could one of my customers buy a monthly extension without going through a dummy App Store program download to top-up their server rental?

2 - I understand that the App Store does not provide per customer sales info. So if a paid version of my application got into circulation within the Jailbroken community how could my web service distinguish access from genuine App Store customers v. ripped client installs?

Update 1:

Thanks everyone. I have not ticked a specific answer as the best solution because this is not a pure technical question. Seems I will have to join Apple's $99 developer program and try to get a response direct from Apple.

Re. the top-up requirement, my current thinking is a separate App Store program download that simply pings my main app via the iPhone inter-app URI message protocol to deliver a credit token.

Answer 1

I think Apple is going to shoot down anything like the subscription based program you mention. See this clause from the SDK agreement:

Section 3.3.3:

Without Apple’s prior written approval, an Application may not provide, unlock or enable additional features or functionality through distribution mechanisms other than the App Store.

As for getting some sort of "customer id" from the apple store to know if an app is legit or not, I don't think there's a way to do that, but I'd love to hear it if there is. The closest I could come to that would be using the DeviceID from the phone itself. You could potentially tie that to a user account, but you still have to solve the problem of making sure the app was actually downloaded legitimately.

Answer 2

Give the app away for free and charge only for the service. Then you don't have to worry about how people acquire the app and you can set up your own store to sell subscriptions.

Answer 3

I believe you can charge for updates to an application in the App Store. So when the time comes for everyone to resubscribe, force everyone to update the app to keep working.

Answer 4

I believe there are apps on the store which are tied to a subscription services, I'd recommend doing some research to see what Apple has already allowed through. What Apple is trying to prevent is the shareware model, where the app is downloaded for free and then a registration code is provided by paying the developer directly. In that scenario, Apple handles all the hosting and distribution but gets none of the proceeds.

If you're not intentionally trying to cut them out, but are honestly charging for an ongoing service, they will probably allow that on the store. They might require that the app be somewhat functional as-is.

Note that under the current App Store model, once you download an app, you are entitled to all updates for free in perpetuity. This is different than for music, where you have to pay again to download a song a second time. Therefore, your "top up" app idea won't work.

Answer 5

To answer my own question, yesterday Apple announced v3.0 of the iPhone o/s to be released mid summer. The new o/s supports application triggered purchase upgrades that would be an ideal solution to my original question about web service subscription.

The new purchase feature routes payment processing via the usual Apple App store setup and Apple take their standard 30% cut. One downside is a free App cannot trigger an in app purchase.

Answer 6

I was also looking toward starting this app service. But I realise that this app should have some real purpose in supplying such information. And I do intent to supply valuable information via And Online SQL Database.