Consumers Less Willing to Pay for Content as Free Apps Surge

[iSee]

I hate this new ecosystem.

Free-to-play (more like pay-to-win) games and subscription based apps...

Have you seen Plants vs Zombies 2? Ridiculous:

...

That's a scary screen shot.

Though, keep in mind: not every game with IAP is pay to win.

E.g., the first Plants vs. Zombies has IAP. But you can play the entire main game and at least some of the mini games without IAP and without farming coins. So that's hours and hours of fun, with no IAP. (Personally, I got into the never-ending survival game and by the time I got sick of that I had tons of coins).

It's really up to the way the game is designed.
Suppose, e.g., there is a game that gives you the first set of levels for free and let's you buy the rest for 0.99... there's nothing wrong with that.

They

 

[Jessica Lares]

Let the people unwilling to pay suffer. They are the same people who bought a smartphone to use for entertainment purposes rather than "smart" purposes. And they are the same people who whine about things not being on Android.

I really don't care.

If you can pay $60 a month for a phone, you can pay $0.99-10 a month for a few apps of your liking. If you can't, then don't get the phone in the first place. It's like buying a kid an Xbox/PS3/Wii/or 3DS and expecting him to be content with just ONE game.

The fool is the one using their phone to play Candy Crush Saga 24/7 anyway. A trash game that I don't get why it's so popular to begin with... Because it's shoved on people's faces on the TV?

These same people are all into their "reward" apps, feeding free data to strangers, yet they're so angry that the government might be spying on them?! Come on now.

My app spending average is $5 to $50. That is really, really high, but then I'm not the one freaking out about ads and IAP, nor is my phone or tablet just a "toy".

 

[adiddas125]

Let the people unwilling to pay suffer. They are the same people who bought a smartphone to use for entertainment purposes rather than "smart" purposes. And they are the same people who whine about things not being on Android.

I really don't care.

If you can pay $60 a month for a phone, you can pay $0.99-10 a month for a few apps of your liking. If you can't, then don't get the phone in the first place. It's like buying a kid an Xbox/PS3/Wii/or 3DS and expecting him to be content with just ONE game.

The fool is the one using their phone to play Candy Crush Saga 24/7 anyway. A trash game that I don't get why it's so popular to begin with... Because it's shoved on people's faces on the TV?

These same people are all into their "reward" apps, feeding free data to strangers, yet they're so angry that the government might be spying on them?! Come on now.

My app spending average is $5 to $50. That is really, really high, but then I'm not the one freaking out about ads and IAP, nor is my phone or tablet just a "toy".

Agreed. I really dislike the in app purchases. If I want a functional app, I will be more than happy to pay for it.

I dont understand why people make apps like "Basic calculator app" for the iphone and tag on ads in the app. Theres already a great basic calculator included.

I am not the power user, but I certainly dont mind paying $ for apps that are worth the money for me.

Free apps tend to be garbage, crash often (looking at you Craigslist app), and just take up a lot of precious real estate with ads.

 

[techwhiz]

I'll pay for apps that have the option of no ads.
I won't use free apps with ads.

 

[840quadra]

Study is worthless without in-app purchase data.

They mention in-app purchases at the end of the article, but it doesn't appear they bothered to do detailed research on it. They did post an assumption, but how exactly would they know unless they dug into it?

 

[RoccoFan]

Quality costs

"Only the rich can afford to buy cheap."
--Old saying

Quality apps like quality software, clothes, equipment, and employees costs. I have tons of free apps, but I'll gladly pay $40 if it's an app I need and the developer has produced a quality product. Goodreader, PDFExpert, iThoughtsHD, SG Project Pro...are they cheap, heck no, but they're quality.

Only the rich can affored to by cheap, because they're the only ones than can afford to keep replacing the poor quality product they buy when it inevitably fails.

 

[Konrad9]

Let's put that a bit in perspective:

Image

Hardly.

I use a number of good, free apps. Wordfued, Amex, Chase, TDBank, Mint, Linkedin, SimpleCasts, Steam, AlienBlue, PadMapper, Twitch, Shazam, MyFitnessPal, Yelp.

All of these are free and/or ad supported and of decent or above-par quality.

 

[adiddas125]

Hardly.

I use a number of good, free apps. Wordfued, Amex, Chase, TDBank, Mint, Linkedin, SimpleCasts, Steam, AlienBlue, PadMapper, Twitch, Shazam, MyFitnessPal, Yelp.

All of these are free and/or ad supported and of decent or above-par quality.

Some of those free apps are assuming you have an account with them in the first place (Amex/Chase) i.e you're doing business with them.

 

[Xiroteus]

Even of the iPhone I am not much of a gamer yet have noticed most games seem to take in app purchases to get anywhere and that is not something I will do. Do that a couple times and I could pay for a real game on the PC that is a thousand times more complex (I buy games when cheap) so most of the time a dollar download really feels like a limited trail. Non games do a lot better and if paid for it basically does what it needs to do.

 

[ablashek]

what this doesn't take into account are those apps that are free but require additional in-app purchases to work.

but regardless of the fact, since the app store doesn't have a demo feature, it makes sense to offer an app for free and then offer in-app upgrades if a person is happy with what they see.

 

[Risco]

I would hardly call it willing, more like no choice as the store has been flooded with free apps. I would rather have paid for a full featured Real Racing 3 rather than the castrated pull your trouser down in app purchase version....

 

[GoldenJoe]

I hate this new ecosystem.

Free-to-play (more like pay-to-win) games and subscription based apps... I hate having to shell out money every time I want to continue, or pay yet another bill every month. I honestly wonder if the "free app" world is a bubble getting ready to burst. How long will it be before people realize that most of the free apps out there are just glorified Facebook games making a comeback?

Have you seen Plants vs Zombies 2? Ridiculous:

I'll gladly pay a higher price for a quality application. I want to buy it and be done, not nickeled and dimed. But in the world of DLC, free-to-play, subscriptions, online passes and always-online, I just don't have the interest in purchasing something I can't own and keep forever.

But alas, we are the minority. And they are the sheep.

Unfortunately, this is how the market is playing out, and developers have to respond if they want to produce revenue. This model is completely backwards (sacrifice quality and design to increase revenue), but nonsensical consumer demand has made it the norm. If everyone changed their attitude to agree with you tomorrow, we'd get better games and apps next week, but until that day comes, our hands are tied.

 

[jonnymo5]

Apps are almost never free. This is just the same model as the free issue of a magazine to get more ad revenue and try to hook you on in-app purchases. While most people will drop $2 on a bottle of soda they won't take a chance on an app.

 

[adiddas125]

Apps are almost never free. This is just the same model as the free issue of a magazine to get more ad revenue and try to hook you on in-app purchases. While most people will drop $2 on a bottle of soda they won't take a chance on an app.

I will gladly pay $2 for an app as long as it does not track me or my spending/browsing behavior.

 

[Stella]

I'm ready to pay any amount for a decent / quality application.
I despise freemium applications, unfortunately they are getting more popular.

 

[iGrip]

It is very interesting that Android and the Play Store are leading the way with this trend.

I remember the days of Freeware/Shareware as being a golden age of software.

 

[cclloyd]

It's not that we are less willing to pay for apps, it's that a few kids complain, an they think that means everyone. I, and many others, would rather pay $5 for an app with no in app purchases or ads.

 

[IbisDoc]

Apps are almost never free. This is just the same model as the free issue of a magazine to get more ad revenue and try to hook you on in-app purchases. While most people will drop $2 on a bottle of soda they won't take a chance on an app.

You know what you're getting when you buy a soda. Most apps end up being useless, and the only clue you have about what you're getting is a screen shot or two. How many of the apps that you download are useful enough that you use them on a regular basis?

 

[SakuraSuki]

Agreed. I really dislike the in app purchases. If I want a functional app, I will be more than happy to pay for it.

I dont understand why people make apps like "Basic calculator app" for the iphone and tag on ads in the app. Theres already a great basic calculator included.

I am not the power user, but I certainly dont mind paying $ for apps that are worth the money for me.

Free apps tend to be garbage, crash often (looking at you Craigslist app), and just take up a lot of precious real estate with ads.

I NEVER purchased any software, music, games, movie. Torrent is my friend. As for App, I jailbroken my iPhone and iPads first day when jailbreak came out. Sideloaded all the downloaded app.

If I can get paid app for free, why should I pay for the App? I have zero interest on paying any App or software doesn't even belong to me. I have zero interest on paying music and movies when I can download them rather easily.

Also, lots of free apps aren't that bad. Yes, many free app contain ads, but almost all of them have ads take very little space near the bottom of the screen. I am deal with that.

 

[mabhatter]

I may have to disagree on certain points raised. Of course, consumers are always going to go for free options where available. But I don't believe any consumers find in-app purchases to be a good thing.

When I was younger, playing old demos of Jazz Jackrabbit, Tyrian 2000, Descent 2 and countless others, they'd give you a taste of the full game for free. If you liked it, they'd tell you where to purchase it.

I may be oversimplifying a matter here, but if you simply had one app -- the game itself -- that you played, with limited features; and if you liked it enough, you could pay X amount to unlock the full version. I genuinely feel consumers would both benefit and prefer this style.

However as there aren't many apps like that out there, I can only imagine people don't really like that idea. What do you guys think?

Many of the APPS are like that... You get something like Hipstamatic for free, and extra filters cost .99 each and you keep them forever AND across your devices. Most of the profitable apps use that model now.

The Freemium game model is terrible. I'll buy games that have payments for CONTENT like extra levels and such you get to keep, but games with boxes of gold and jewels that get used up JUST PLAYING get deleted right away.

I do have to admit, there are a lot of crybabies with no self control that cannot seem to handle the idea of "walk away" if a game has crappy terms you don't like... Then publishers will be more reasonable. But if you can't control yourself... Well that's what they COUNT on... Don't be a chump!

 

[apolloa]

Oh how the tables turn eh, why? because PLENTY of people on here have moaned and stated that Android users are the freebie pikes who refuse to pay for anything!
Yet all games and apps on the whole are on the Apple app store first and more and more and more frequently with some damn freemium crap model too! Hell these day's they charge you for the app or game AND then charge for IAP. Still some are more sensible then others and it is possible to play Real Racing without spending a penny.

I don't think the IAP model is going anywhere soon, not when the majority of the top ten grossing apps are consistently occupied by freemium apps on BOTH the Apple store and Google Play store, the developers and publishers are certainly making their millions.

Quick fact, did you know a free ad supported app will use your battery up faster than a paid for app? Because it is constantly using your WiFi or data connection to update those ads.

----------

It is very interesting that Android and the Play Store are leading the way with this trend.

I remember the days of Freeware/Shareware as being a golden age of software.

You couldn't be MORE wrong. Go and take a look at what store those free apps are on first, because it isn't the Google Play Store!

 

[aloshka]

This is horrible!! I hate free apps with ads. I hate ads. I don't want products shoved down my throat. If I see an ad, I refuse to buy the product. Everyone is trying to brainwash us by showing us the same information over and over again.

I will pay for my apps and support any app that are ad-free. Even if they require payment.

 

[ChrisTX]

I think people are being cheap by not paying for apps. They spend a lot of money on the hardware, but won't spend $.99 on an app? Ridiculous!

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I'm not sure why this should be surprising. Apple won't let developers offer demo versions, upgrades or anything else needed to generate real software sales. It's all about the quick fix with cheap and dirty apps and frankly it shows. Fart apps galore (and apps that might as well be fart apps as they're freaking useless). This is why I'm convinced that traditional computers aren't going anywhere in the long run. They may merge to some degree, but software that's consistently worth buying requires an open platform.

 

[firewood]

I don't like paying for apps.

So instead, I write my own. Instead of forking out 99 cents in ransom, I only have to buy a MacBook, a pile of programming books, pay Apple $99/year for a dev account, and spend hundreds/thousands of hours writing/debugging my iOS code.

What a deal. You cheapskates should all try it.