Windows Phone Thoughts: Biting the Handango that Feeds It: Are You Getting Your Money's Worth?

It's like going to the dentist. You know that it does some good to visit, but it's a painful experience every time. As both a developer and a customer, I constantly try to justify the reasons to be there. Handango started off as a modest portal for mobile games and applications. Now, I just don't know what to make of it.



The "developer" side of me hopes that I get the proper exposure my programs need, but at what cost? By slicing off as much as 40% of the listed price, what I am actually left with (and taxed on) is hardly an appreciated profit, and by overpricing my products, it's no wonder that piracy remains rampant. The "customer" side of me just has a hard time sifting through the various pages of repetitive junk (from ringtones, wallpaper, eBooks, and fake or pirated programs) and re-releases of the same version of software just to stay on the front page, then trying to charge me for things like "Download Protection." And, in my experience, response times and support by Handango staff have been close to non-existant, especially in the case of their online contests - does anyone ever win?

I've heard of incidents where customers have resorted to contacting the developers directly to "PayPal" them a more "agreeable" price for full versions of their software, and have seen developers price their software according to the markup that the portals impose, and/or offer a "free" version with a subtle hint to visit their own site for the "real" version. As a developer or a customer (or both), what are your thoughts on Handango and its cost of dealing with them?