catch me if I'm wrong but the app store is basically the only means of getting the app to the vast majority of customers, so where are they supposed to look elsewhere to get higher prices.
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App Store Developers Debate Pricing and Marketing
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The developer has a point, but if the app is good and it's 7.99, people would buy it. The reason is that the .99 apps are worth a shot. If you want to make yourself a 7.99 game, then make a FREE demo for people who might be on the fence, then you got your 7.99 if the game is any good
Let's port this idea over to the desktop world.
Should everything there cost $25? Things like Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and Office...who needs those programs anyway!?
Because that's where we currently are in the iPhone world. Nothing that requires a lot of work to make is going to get made because they can't make a profit with it.
I'm glad to see you're happy with the situation, but I think it's kind of sad.
My thought exactly. He sounds like he's wining that people don't want to shell out what he feels is fair for the app. People will pay what they feel is fair. (Supply and demand doesn't quote hold true, since supply isn't limited. Competition on the other hand...)
This d-bag never took an econ class?
Besides, his argument that there is a killer app that is going to take 6/9 months and $150k/$225K is slightly moot. How many people do you need putting 6 or 9 months into an app? If that many people are needed, he'll have to proceed slower than he would like. Put two people on it and let them work for a year. Build up those .99 cents and put that towards development.
I think the only $9.99 apps that have really succeed beyond the honeymoon period of the first two weeks of the app store, are mostly Gameloft games. Gameloft has repeatedly hit it out of the park with their games and they seem to show no sign of stopping.
No, this isn't what he's saying at all.
He's complaining that the store seems to be centered around the "top downloaded" lists. And of course that list will allways be full of the cheaper apps. So even programs that "fairly" cost $10 will hardly ever appear on those lists.
He wants the store to be presented in different ways that give all price-ranges a chance of being seen, not just the lowest prices.
In short, I don't think you understood him at all.
I would argue that free or lite versions hurt sales of these games. Nearly every person I know with an iPhone or iPod Touch has downloaded at most 2-3 $.99 apps, and they have more than 15 free apps. I feel like the market is not even started to open up yet, people are just afraid to spend money on the app store. They don't see the value in these apps, most of which are games. Could it be that the iPhone is so amazing by itself that many people don't see the need for more apps? I wonder....
I'm torn on this, on one hand, I say this would be terrible and would allow EA and Gameloft to dominate just by shear money control, but at the same time, I would think good apps would rise to the top no matter what. I think the developer's argument is spot on, in that developers have yet to figure out how to market the apps to people as well as make them worth while to people. I have yet to see an ad for games on the iphone anywhere but on MacRumors and other Apple blogs.... what if Gameloft showed a commercial with 5 apps on TV, would it be successful?
I really liked reading the blog from tap tap tap. The owner of tap tap tap, John Casasanta, has an intereseting view on this matter.. and I think he is right..
Read the article here: http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/how-to-prevent-the-app-store-from-becoming-the-crap-store/
Read the article here: http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/how-to-prevent-the-app-store-from-becoming-the-crap-store/
It strikes me as insane when people hesitate to pay $5 for a game (likely worth $20-$30 for Mac, PC or PSP) waiting to see if it becomes $1.
That $4 you saved is a fraction of the cost of the meal you bought yesterday, maybe didn't even like, and have now forgotten.
There are reviews and screenshots--that's enough to make a few bucks an acceptable, even trivial risk for me. The higher the price, the more sure I have to be before I buy, but I certainly don't complain that the developers are making too much money!
That $4 you saved is a fraction of the cost of the meal you bought yesterday, maybe didn't even like, and have now forgotten.
There are reviews and screenshots--that's enough to make a few bucks an acceptable, even trivial risk for me. The higher the price, the more sure I have to be before I buy, but I certainly don't complain that the developers are making too much money!
It's not about price, it's about demand. You can stimulate demand by lowering the price, or marketing.
Right now everyone is going the former because they view the App Store as their only means of marketing. I'm suggesting that instead they look outside the App Store to stimulate demand.
So what ways could this be done? Have a list? $.99 apps, $1.99-$4.99 apps, $5.99-$9.99apps, etc.? Or maybe a Youtube style thing (Most popular: today, this week, this month, this year, ever)? Any other ideas?
Actually, I bring in my lunch and that $4 feeds me lunch for a whole week.
Just saying...
I don't understand Hockenberry's complaint -- of the top ten paid apps currently listed on the Canadian app store, only two of those are 99 cents, and four are at $4.99 or more. How is this supposed to indicate that there is a race to the bottom? Gameloft (mentioned by several earlier posters) is doing fantastic business and getting great reviews with games that cost up to $9.99 (Hero of Sparta, Brothers in Arms). How does this not demonstrate that good games with polish and depth cannot sell at well about $0.99?
Perhaps. But I know that the really good apps cost money, and I will pay for them. Much of the 99 cent stuff is junk.
I think the fundamental concern is true. There really aught to be some type of demoing or trial system in place for the App Store that better allows users to try out applications. That doesn't hurt the numbers of $0.99 apps, but it'll certainly better justify the more expensive apps. Everyone wins.
Well there are demo versions of all those desktop apps. Gimme a demo version of a paid iPhone app and I bet the paid versions sell better after the demo version is out
Something like that. I'd suggest this:
FREE: No cost
Inexpensive: $1 - $5
Moderate: $6 - $13
Pro: $14 and up
There's enough room for 4 buttons across the top instead of the 2 that are there now.
Imagine the "top 20" in that 'moderate' price group. There would probably be some really great programs in that list that don't even exist yet because whoever has those ideas knows they'll never rise to the top of the current "paid" list.
Combine this idea with a way to do trial periods (critical for this to work) and you'll start seeing a lot cooler apps for the iPhone that just don't exist today.
EDIT:
Exactly. But I think both parts are critical: The demos and the different price tiers.
This is why I'm looking forward to Sim City for iPhone. It looks like and has been said to be full featured (port!!). Maybe even well wroth the $9.99. Which is the first, in my opinion, for a mobile device. Other cross-platform games seem to be watered down when they hit mobile devices. Were only on the first year of the App Store and who knows what the second will bring in terms of applications. Just hope they do something about the junk apps.
Lemme make one thing straight to the developers who make useless apps... you payed $99 just to submit that!?
agreed, agreed.
i also reckon i'd be much happier to pay for apps if i wasn't already paying AT&T $130 a month. $30 for unlimited data is fine with me, but another $15 or $20 for sms that can't do mms?!! come on!!
See this article another poster listed earlier:
http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/how-to-prevent-the-app-store-from-becoming-the-crap-store/
Scroll down to the bar graph a bit down the page. That pretty much explains it.
In the US, the top 10 is made up of 5 $.99 apps, 1 $1.99 app (Enigmo, which was $.99 until just a couple days ago, so its kind of a psuedo $.99 app), 1 $2.99 app, 2 $4.99 apps, and 1 $9.99 app. That's an average price of $2.99.
What we're seeing is a spectrum of prices with a wide standard deviation, with only app falling on the mean app price and the median app price being $1.49. That's kind of sad. We need apps that either blow us away (i.e. anything Gameloft puts out) or really adds value. Few apps have been able to do the ladder.