I think that when browsing a free app, there should be a text box and button to donate to the developers. This would be very helpful to developers who wish to release their software as free so people are not forced into paying but still wish to allow people to donate easily.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
My suggestion for the app store
- Thread starter jamesmcm
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Sounds good to me but I am sure somebody will come along with some reason why this just won't work.
I think it is very important because it will allow us to see if people will donate if it is very easy to do so. This is important because people cite examples of free software (and music, books, etc.) supported by donations failing, however, in those cases, in order to donate, the user has to go through a long sign-up process and so it could be that that is stopping them from donating rather than the money.
It's an interesting idea and one I'd like to see but I don't think Apple will do it unless they can take a cut of that donation. Even then, it is still a good idea so you never know!
I think it's fairly easy to make donations and stuff online - most people use the now ubiquitous paypal donate button and a large number of people have a paypal account (but you don't even need one to donate - just tap in your card info) so I wouldn't agree that there is a huge hindrance on the net at the moment. Doing it via iTunes balance would be easier though for this purpose.
I think it's fairly easy to make donations and stuff online - most people use the now ubiquitous paypal donate button and a large number of people have a paypal account (but you don't even need one to donate - just tap in your card info) so I wouldn't agree that there is a huge hindrance on the net at the moment. Doing it via iTunes balance would be easier though for this purpose.
I have thought a lot about this before, and the fact is there's only an upside to this. It would actually be in Apple's best interests to have a donate button there. Presumably, Apple would still take a 30% cut of the donations, so having a donate button defrays some of the cost of running the App Store that provides the mechanism for downloading the free app in the first place. Apple and the developers have everything to gain from allowing donations, and nothing to lose.
very good idea; i like that alot.
as a follow-up, i would also like to see it where only purchasers of an app can leave a review.
I've always wondered how Free Apps work. Does the developer still have to pay $99 to get it in the store? What if an app starts out as 99 cents but gets switched to free after a day?
Yes, they still pay the $99, even when they make no money off of it.
They will make profit for whatever downloads they got during the time it was 99 cents, and then nothing once it's free.