Windows App Store Offers Up To 80% Cut For Developers

Developers will take as much as an 80 percent cut from their sales on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 app marketplace, 10 percent more than the industry standard set by Apple and Facebook. While those companies will start off earning 70 percent of every customer dollar spent on their Windows Store releases, they will get 80 percent after their games or apps generate more than $25,000 in sales. "We're going to give you a bigger bite of the apple," said Windows Web Services Vice president Antoine Leblond at an event for the online store Tuesday, according to a report from tech blog All Things Digital. Apple currently pays out 70 percent to developers from their game and app sales, keeping the remaining 30 percent. Facebook also pockets 30 percent from in-game purchases with Credits, its universal virtual currency system. Google, however, takes a significantly smaller cut from sales on its Chrome Web Store (built into the company's Chrome web browser): only 5 percent. Windows Store will debut with a beta in February 2012, and will allow users to buy games, apps, ebooks, digital magazines, and more. It will feature a Metro-style user interface similar to the Windows Phone operating system. Prices for Windows Store games and apps will start at $1.49 and go up to $999.99. The service will also allow for free apps, time-limited and feature-limited trials, in-app purchases, in-app advertisements, and "third-party commerce". Microsoft noted that users will be able to deep-link Windows Store apps, and find them in search engines. Its forthcoming browser Internet Explorer 10 will feature a built-in button that will show apps from the Windows Store. The company intends to localize the app store for all languages that Windows is localized in, and offer more than 100 payment methods in 230 markets. For the top 40 markets, it will pay developers in 20 different currencies. Microsoft has posted registration fees for different countries on its new Windows Store For Developers blog -- in the U.S., individuals can register for $49, and businesses can register for $99.