What would really help is upgrade pricing! Seriously; that's a no-brainer feature that I think just about every developer with a paid app supports.
I believe that already exists, where they abandon version X of the app and you need to pay to get version X+1. Also, in-app-purchases could in theory cover new features.
And really, that's not even how software is, or should be made, anymore, where months and months of development are coalesced into a single upgrade that maximizes the risk of bugs, and keeps features out of users' hands the longest. The industry has long since moved to agile updates in a short time period, where there would never be one big moment for the user to decide to upgrade. That old way also drastically increases development costs, since multiple versions need to be concurrently supported, along with data migrations, security updates, documentation, etc. Really, getting improvements as fast and inexpensively to users is the best way, and that's just not compatible with upgrade pricing.
Subscriptions and ads? No thanks. I just want buy an app once with no ads or iap. They should also implement a try before you buy feature.
I agree, I personally prefer paying up-front, and not using IAP or seeing ads. But likely Apple doesn't allow time expiring full versions, since that introduces two buy decision points, which is bad salesmanship. While it would reassure users that the software behaves as advertised, it also encourages a wasteland of non-functional apps on devices that would make for a bad user experience. And likely be mostly abused by users who temporarily need an app and are avoiding paying for that short term need.
Paid upgrades never made sense. If you're a smaller developer you should be constantly delivering new features and fixes. For those that support their application well they'll succeed at subscriptions. For lazy developers they won't hit that year mark for many subscribers and they won't be able to leverage the savings.
Agreed. Plus, some types of apps are just more conducive to subscriptions, and some types the users just won't accept subscriptions. Either way, the market will sort it out, as you say.
What happens when the app's developers go out of business, or quit, or decide they no longer want to support the app? The app will stop working and I will no longer be able to use it.
If I buy an app outright, I can use it as long as it continues to function with my current OS. (And even then, I can always choose not to update the OS if I really rely on the app.) I am not bound to the whims of the developers or their financial situation.
There's also the scenario of developers removing features from apps in "updates". Maybe I don't want to update the app because I don't like changes that have been made. App subscriptions will force me to "update" whether I want to or not.
There are far more negatives with app subscriptions than positives.
Upgrade pricing is the solution here.
I think you raise a good point about removal of features, as I've experienced that, since app developers are under pressure to add features for experienced users, while keeping features streamlined for new users. But, updates are different that subscriptions. I believe it would be possible to turn off automatic updates, while maintaining a subscription.
As it is now, if an app is no longer actively developed, it's a total crap shoot if the next iOS update will break the app. But one thing is for certain, which is that uncertain revenue is the most likely cause of the developer going out of business. The question we'll need Apple to answer is what happens with subscription apps from defunct companies. Can anyone here say what happens to existing apps once a company stops paying their $100/year?
What I'm afraid is going to happen is that developers that used to charge $4.99 to own the app outright are now going to charge $4.99 per year and they're not going to offer enough new features for the vast majority of customers to justify paying the yearly subscription fee. The app is then going to be given a bunch of 1 star reviews and that will force some prospective buyers to stay away.
Apple and developers need to tread very carefully here. This has the potential to blow up in Apple's and developers' faces pretty quickly if they're not careful.
Keep in mind that we've long since bottomed out the race to the bottom for pricing, so developers know they can't simply overcharge for apps, that users won't bite.
What I think is more likely is that in year 1, apps will become
cheaper. Right now, developers have to charge a rate to cover several years of development, but with subscriptions, they can tie rates to the cost of each year of development, so I would expect a $5 one-off app to become a $2/year app, for example.
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