O2 Litmus to O2 Active
At the end of last year I attended the O2 Litmus launch event. At the time I wasn’t that impressed because there was no way for O2’s users to discover the site from the main O2 Live Portal.
Nevertheless, I thought I’d give it a try. I took some freeware I had for Android and ported it to Java ME. Since then, lots of people have downloaded the UKTraffic application and I even had some great comments on the Litmus forums.
Last week, O2 contacted me and asked if would be interested in publishing this application on the O2 Active portal. O2 are refreshing the O2 Active downloads and want to carry much more than the games they currently provide. They also plan to regularly move popular applications from O2 Litmus to O2 Active. So, if you have a candidate application, I recommend you upload to Litmus. It’s great to see O2 following through on its commitment to allow Litmus to be a test area for O2 Active.
On a more negative note, I don’t understand their commission scheme. As on O2 Litmus, they offer a 70:30 split. However, if you read the (17 page!) agreement this is after UK VAT has been deducted. For anyone who doesn’t know how the UK VAT system works, companies (like O2) can claim back VAT charged on their purchase price (the price I charge them) of items offset against the VAT they change their customer. Hence, this has the affect that companies only pay VAT to the UK Government on profit, not the whole 15% of the sale price. Nevertheless, O2 are deducting the whole 15% which lowers the commission considerably.
Therein lies a warning about all application store commission rates. Read the small print to avoid disappointment. Most say your commission is after deductions such as taxes, credit card fees or operator fees.
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