I undsrstand that not everybodies life is the same, so....
Absolutely untrue. Why is it so difficult for you people to imagine scenarios that differ from your life? Do you really believe everyone else's life is exactly like yours?
So explain to me why everybody needs to pay for your screwed up life style? In a nut shell that is exactly what you are asking for. I bet you voted Obama.
I don't like keeping apps on my device that i rarely use. We all know how tedious it is to flick through 7 or 8 pages of apps. Just this weekend, I was out with friends, and in order to help one of them with something, I had to download an app I'd previously purchased, but had deleted from my phone.
So you see the app store as a rental business. That is all well and good but niether the developers nor Apple are set up for that model of business.
In any event I read the above and see nothing more than an example of a person that is to lazy to manage his equipment. You don't go down to the hardware store for paint, use it up and then walk back into that storemonths later demanding more paint because you threw out your half used bucket of paint do you????
Within 60 seconds, I had re-downloaded the app and was using it. And it's happened a few times in the past, as well. Now, if what we're reading is true, we'll have to pay for the app again -- or wait until we're back at our computers.
So can't you see how stupid this is and frankly is likely a perfect example of what Apple is trying to avoid. You are just one person and yet have publically admitted to burning up a lot of app store bandwidth just because you can't manage software on your iPhone.
You have got to admit that this can become a significant issue over time for an operation like app store. They have to pay for that bandwidth usage somehow, that is one of the reasons to support paid apps.
In some cases, that could be 12 hours or more. I've even taken a couple of overnight trips without my MacBook Pro. (Not so long ago, that was unthinkable.)
So again you want Apple and the rest of us to pay just so life can be convient for you? Frankly this is what I'm getting from your post, you are all about the free ride.
As the iPhone/iTouch reach massive saturation, I understand this becomes an issue of bandwidth. But it'll definitely be a drag to have to pay to download apps again.
So offer up solutions instead of whining. I don't wish to be unkind but if Apple has to foot the bill for thousands of redownloads everyday then yeah they need to do something. Your posts indicate that thousands a day is a real possibility.
Hey, Apple, if you must charge for this, how about a compromise?
To re-download a free app: Free.
To re-download a paid app: $.25.
See there we go a constructive idea. Of course getting developers on line is another issue.
There are alsorts of possibilities including allowing developers to engage in Software as a Service where you get supported for xxx number of days. A simple dowload fee as you suggest. Or maybe a two tier structure where the app gets one price on first install and another for each download.
I actually like that last approach a lot as it splits income with the developer.
Some to also consider would be software subscriptions where you get one dowload per release and a sale covers x number of releases. There is likely other ideas to be had also. I suspect that Apple will start to explore other business possibilities after Mobile OSes 3.0 release.
There are other possibilities beyond this, one would be app storage on a Mobile Me account. The ultimate solution in my mind is an iPhone with storage card possibilities. That is a flash card and the capability to save and recall from it.
Dave