Having to buy some apps twice (iPhone and iPad).

I absolutely agree. There is the occasional app here and there where they have to put in some extra work to build a different interface for iPads, but for most games - especially the 3d ones. There's no excuse for making people buy a separate one for the iPad. It's like charging PC owners with bigger monitors more for the same game.

It's the reason I haven't yet bought either version of Angry Birds Space

it's the same as buying a game for the wii and the mobile version for the 3ds; same for the PS3 & vita version; you have to buy one for each system. The developers have all the rights to make a separate app for a NEW system since NEW money has to be invested on making the newer version. Some devs are nice and don't make a separate app, but I'm fine leaving it to the discretion of the developers if they want to charge for an updated version for another hardware separately. Nobody promised you that they would upgrade the app you bought for a future hardware for free.

Sometimes it is about multiplayer fairness

Sometimes it is about multiplayer fairness.

A game may be easier to control on one device compared to another, so players with one device would have an inherent advantage over players with the other type of device. The "natural" ways to "hold" an iPhone and an iPad are different, this could affect gameplay.

On an iPad the extra screen area may show additional information, a larger portion of the field of play, be easier to read, etc. An inherent advantage against an iPhone user.

However it is also possible to keep iPhone and iPad users separate by controlling the matching making and joining of games. Separate apps are not the only way to keep the two groups separate but it is one convenient way. One argument in favor of the separate apps approach is that it keeps the size of the app smaller, only on device family's set of art rather than both. The separate apps approach may also keep the code simpler. Every time a program has to behave differently depending on whether it is running on an iPhone or an iPad is one more thing to test and/or one more thing to go wrong.

having to buy some apps twice

If you download the entire app from same account of iTunes or Mac App store then you can again download that from specified account because it is free and you will pay once. But when you download the iPhone app for iPad then you have to increase the size by x2 to fit the app into iPad screen. There are lots of only iPad apps available so you can go through that and have to pay twice if you want the good result for iPad.

Extra work, yes, but for most part, they are probably just updating the graphics and interface to cater for a HD display. Why should I have to pay full price for an app that is functionally the same, just with a new skin slapped over it? They should charge a marginal price (say 99 cents) at most.

Yeah, this does get annoying. Sometimes you have to pay 3 times if you want the game/app on your Mac as well (like RR2, Keynote, Asphalt6). Sometimes for those games/apps I'll wait until they go on sale before buying them. I got GTA3 for $1 on my iPad, still had to pay $10 for it on my Mac.

I love universal apps, if there are 2 very similar apps available, I'll more likely choose the universal one over the non-universal one. hint hint devs, hint hint.

It's a lot of work to code apps with universal binary...


Not that it's an excuse, but still.

Carlanga said:

it's the same as buying a game for the wii and the mobile version for the 3ds;

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No it's not. The Wii and 3ds are two complete different devices. iPads are basically big iPhones (or big iPod touches depending on the model) which run the same OS.

For most games there would be no extra graphics required to convert a retina iPhone game to a non-retina iPad app other than a little bit to fill out the space around the edge (the difference between the iPhone's 960x640 and the iPad's 1024x768). For the 2d games there would be some more graphics needed if they chose to make it a retina iPad game, but not for 3d games.

Really a more apt comparison would be having to buy a game twice to be able to play it on both your laptop and your desktop.

Carlanga said:

Nobody promised you that they would upgrade the app you bought for a future hardware for free.

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I know that, but if they want my money for any current and future games a universal app is a good way to make it more likely.

What does please me is that at with the new iPad, we're at least getting the iphone's full retina graphics when we run an iPhone app on the iPad so it doesn't
look terrible any more.

dancj said:

No it's not. The Wii and 3ds are two complete different devices. iPads are basically big iPhones (or big iPod touches depending on the model) which run the same OS.

For most games there would be no extra graphics required to convert a retina iPhone game to a non-retina iPad app other than a little bit to fill out the space around the edge (the difference between the iPhone's 960x640 and the iPad's 1024x768). For the 2d games there would be some more graphics needed if they chose to make it a retina iPad game, but not for 3d games.

Really a more apt comparison would be having to buy a game twice to be able to play it on both your laptop and your desktop....

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Nope, an iPad is a DIFFERENT device than an iPhone, one is an actual phone, but I guess for you any win 7 laptop is just a big win7 smartphone. Another example the PS3, PSP and some sony BR players use the same base OS, so I guess they are all just one device for you. Another example is the HD re-releases of games & BR, they spend maybe just a little time or a lot of time making things look better, but you can't ask them to upgrade your old DVD for the BR since it's "just graphics". Now, for the PS3 & Vita both use same code and you can basically make the same game for both devices really easy, for the same game on PS3 & Vita, they charge you separately.

If you as a developer had already made the game to just the max spec the devices could run then if you want to support higher graphics you could end up doing all the models again and many more things. Yes, it is easier to do when they all run the same code, but still work needs to be done.

I like Universal apps too, but this sense of entitlement of getting new things for free is ridiculous. I can agree if the app is already out and the device is out too there should only be one app.

Hell, they are not making you buy the new app since you can still use the older app perfectly fine on your new iPad, just not HD. They did not sell you HD so you shouldn't expect future HD for free unless the developer doesn't care too much on generating new revenue. Developers should just make one universal new app and make you decide if you want to go HD, you pay the new toll and just erase the older one from your device and keep it in the cloud.

Android

Yep, as much as it stinks it makes since, especially with the Wii, DSi analogy. In addition, some friends with Android always say how they can buy an app once and it is for both, that is not always true. Take angry birds space. Angry Birds Space HD and then you can get either the free one with ads or the paid one without ads for the phone. So yea its not iOS exclusive.

I understand that depending on the app in question, there may or may not be significant development required to make it work WELL on the new iPad. What they should do in this case is make the iPad version universal and sell it at a higher price to reflect this development time, perhaps tagging the app as 'HD'. At least an iPad owner doesn't have to purchase and maintain a separate iPhone app as well if they use it on both devices. Quite a few developers already do this, so it's clearly a choice some make to sell two independent apps rather than an iPhone + iPad/iPhone 'HD' version.

It's the reason I will not purchase TweetBot, I don't care how good it's supposed to be, I'm just not going out and purchasing two seperate apps when the iPad version could have been made to be universal. I wouldn't mind if they charged more for it.

I liked the desktop/laptop comparison, because both devices run the same os, why am I buying the same app twice? Oh that's right, I don't.

I have jail broken my iPad in the past to run the iPhone 4 resolution binary in 2x mode on the iPad. Not ideal, but much better than running with the 3G res.

weegiemac said:

does this 'annoy' anyone else?

Why is it that the likes of infinity blade ii receive an update to enable it to run full spec on the new ipad whilst remaining a universal app for both iphone and ipad, yet real racing 2, fifa 12, asphalt 6, plants vs zombies (which i own for iphone) all have "hd" versions for the ipad, yet leave the iphone versions compatible with ipad, albeit it in the x2 mode.

I've been gaming on ios since the iphone 3g and have a large selection of apps, but i grudge paying for the same game again when epic/chair have made it perfectly clear that an app can be universal and receive updates to either platform within the one app file.

I've just got my new ipad but i really grudge giving ea another £4.99 for real racing 2 when i already bought it for the iphone.

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+1

Carlanga said:

Nope, an iPad is a DIFFERENT device than an iPhone, one is an actual phone,

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I love Mya iPad dearly, but it really is a big iPod touch. The 3G model might not be able to make phone calls, but that aside it really is a big iPhone.

Carlanga said:

but I guess for you any win 7 laptop is just a big win7 smartphone.

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No, but I suspect Windows 7 laptops will be.

Carlanga said:

Another example the PS3, PSP and some sony BR players use the same base OS, so I guess they are all just one device for you.

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You seem to think that running the same OS is the sole criteria for me thinking two devices are basically the same device. Either that or you're clumsily trying to set up a straw man. The devices you mention have different interfaces, different capabilities and take different media. They are different devices. The difference between a wifi iPad and an iPod touch on the other hand is basically the size - along with a few tweaks to the OS and packaged apps.

Carlanga said:

I like Universal apps too, but this sense of entitlement of getting new things for free is ridiculous. I can agree if the app is already out and the device is out too there should only be one app.

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I'm to taking about apps that were around before the iPad. I'm talking about apps since the iPad - like Angry Birds Space - where developers have decided to A - develop seperate versions and B - charge three times the price for the iPad app.

Personally I'm a fan of the following pricing structure. I haven't seen it utilized much, but it makes a lot of sense in my opinion:

Standalone iPhone App - Priced at $0.99
Universal iPhone/iPad App - Priced at $1.99

This lets users who have both devices purchase the app one time for a premium price. For those with only iPhone/iPod Touch, it lets them purchase just the version specific to their platform for a lower price (and likely a smaller file size too).

Of course, this doesn't solve the problem of someone buying the standalone version and then getting an iPad later on. But... can't please everyone - if you think theres even a chance of getting an iPad in the future, might make sense to buy the universal build in the example above.