Keep all your revenue (for now): Chillingo and Samsung try to lure mobile developers

Mobile app developers looking to boost revenue may want to take a close look at the newest effort from Electronic Arts. As reported by Polygon, on Wednesday EA announced a new partnership between its Chillingo division and Samsung called “100% Indie”. Developers that sign up and participate by adding their app to the Samsung Apps store will get 100 percent of revenues for the first six months.

Samsung Apps logo The monetary boost doesn’t stop there, however. After every six-month period from the beginning of the program, which starts on March 4, the developer cut decreases 10 percent, down to the industry standard of 70 percent after two years.

This differs from the two other major Android app stores. Google offers a 70 percent cut in Google Play, as does Amazon’s Appstore but it generally retains more control over mobile app prices and therefore, developer revenues. For example, Amazon picks a free app each day and also can also lower app prices to match promotions in competing app stores.

I see no mention of exclusivity in the program, but even if it is required, it may not give developers a reason to shy away. Samsung devices account for the largest share of all Android phones sold: 42.5 percent of the global total last year, says Gartner research. The opportunity for a higher revenue percentage then could easily outweigh any audience limitations from keeping the app in the Samsung Apps store.

If nothing else, this may even provide some incentive for devs to bring their newest, best titles to Samsung devices first before offering them to others through Google Play or the Amazon Appstore. That could add more fuel to the growing fire between Samsung and Google as the Wall Street Journal recently reported that Google is already concerned by Samsung’s influence over the Android platform as a whole.

The “100% Indie” initiative kicks off on March 4 and the first 3,000 developers to sign up will be fast-tracked in the program.