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First Wave of Mac App Store Apps Features Broad Range of Prices

AlligatorBloodz said:
That is not fair. He was just making a point that if they made software more affordable than more people would buy it. Which is probably true. It is just finding the right balance so both the consumer and developer feel they are getting a fair trade.

Didn't know there were so many economists on this board.
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Whenever anybody sells any product or service they must find the right price. There is a sweet spot that every producer/seller should try and find to maximize profits. Price the product too high and you won't get as many sales, price it too low and you missing out on $$. This applies to everything in a capitalistic society, not just the app store.

You get many young people reading and posting comments simply saying price it lower and you will sell more. The key job of the developer is to know his/her market (and competition) and most accurately determine where the price should be set. Choosing the right price is often what leads to the success or failure of a product or entire business.
 
vastoholic said:
If I didn't already have it, I would jump all over the Sketchbook Pro introductory price of $29. That is a steal.

Since it recognizes the programs that I already have installed before the mac app store was available, will it offer upgrades through the store as well? Of course the only thing I noticed this on was Aperture, which I get pushed to my computer regardless.
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AGREED. I love what they've done for the desktop. This answers that nagging feeling that iOS was getting more developer attention than the Mac, specially from a vendor like Autodesk.

I hope Adobe chooses to wet its feet with Adobe Ideas. Possible they're waiting for in-app purchasing?

ks-man said:
Whenever anybody sells any product or service they must find the right price. There is a sweet spot that every producer/seller should try and find to maximize profits. Price the product too high and you won't get as many sales, price it too low and you missing out on $$. This applies to everything in a capitalistic society, not just the app store.

You get many young people reading and posting comments simply saying price it lower and you will sell more. The key job of the developer is to know his/her market (and competition) and most accurately determine where the price should be set. Choosing the right price is often what leads to the success or failure of a product or entire business.
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Amen. A friend of mine was upset to see the prices, noting that they seemed mostly "normal" (compared to what he's seen them at prior to this). I couldn't help scratching my head. Consumer behavior on the Mac App Store and value should drive prices. Lots of good promos to take advantage of.

~ CB
 
gleepskip said:
said that they would never spend $49.99 on LEGO Harry Potter.
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'cept that from the screenshots it looks a lot more like the console version than the ipad version, in which case that price is equivalent to the rrp of the ps3 for x360 version
 
Isn´t any one else tired of these same old apps again? :confused:

Or is there something really special paying for Angry Birds or Pinball HD again on my Mac too?

I just don´t get it. Doesn´t it get boring?

Maybe I should try it?
 
Halamolo said:
Isn´t any one else tired of these same old apps again? :confused:

Or is there something really special paying for Angry Birds or Pinball HD again on my Mac too?

I just don´t get it. Doesn´t it get boring?

Maybe I should try it?
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I find Angry Birds to be a very enjoyable experience on the Mac, much better than the iPod. Probably not as big of a difference from the iPad though. They say they're going to add new stuff to it later though, so hopefully there will be new Mac-exclusive items. I don't know what features are new to the Mac version though, they said there were some but didn't specify.

jW
 
illitrate23 said:
'cept that from the screenshots it looks a lot more like the console version than the ipad version, in which case that price is equivalent to the rrp of the ps3 for x360 version
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I agree it's a full-featured version, similar to the consoles. But, my wife's perspective is she would never buy it because she doesn't see $50 of value in the game. I asked her what price would be appealing to her...

"$10. It's a computer game. If I were to pay $50, I would expect to be able to play it on that." (pointing to our HDTV)

To her, a console game is intrinsically more valuable than a computer game. She places the same value on computer games as iOS games.
 
Mac App Store isn't Showing up as Download Option?

Is it only happening to me? I updated my Mac Software and the Mac App store download doesn't show up.
 
How do I shut off Angry Birds?

I've looked around the boards all day. When a game is playing full screen, how do you quit? Command-Q is all I see.
 
phillipduran said:
I think it is realistic. How many of those lower cost app purchases are impulse buys? I was ready to impulse buy Bejeweled3 until I saw the $19 price on it. The price made me say no to their app. I think that something these app developers should consider when pricing their apps is whether or not they are selling the type of app someone would impulse buy. I wouldn't suggest lowering the price to the $5 or less for full blown titles such as the Lego series games, but parlor type games such as Bejeweled, they need to be priced lower.

<snip>
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I am surprised that so many people are upset at the pricing of Bejeweled. Maybe it's because I played it on the Mac before I ever got my iPhone, but as I stated in a different thread, desktop Bejeweled has been $19.99 for just about forever. I thought the $2.99 mobile price was quite a good deal, but don't think that $20 for a desktop version is unreasonable. Do people really think that software should be $10 or less unless it's some sort of productivity software? :confused:
 
Wow, Osmos just dropped in price (sale) from $9.99 down to $4.99, I wonder if they heard me complain?

screenshot20110106at320.png


(developers are going to have to find that sweet spot, so I anticipate more sales this weekend)
 
I wonder if there will be huge 'sales' again similar to the iOS App Store...

The argument re: bejeweled is simply that the game is fundamentally the same with no real additional content (despite what the developers say) between the different versions so the price premium really comes down to the different platform. LEGO HP is a different example because the game is clearly very different (and to a layman like me, probably had a lot more development hours) than the iPhone version.

That being said, it is interesting how things have turned out because I paid $20 for Bejeweled not long ago (on CD!) but then it was available on App Store (on sale) for $1.19... and as a result, I wouldn't buy it again unless it fell into that price range (or thereabouts).
 
WildGuess said:
I've looked around the boards all day. When a game is playing full screen, how do you quit? Command-Q is all I see.
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Some apps have a dedicated Quit button, some are Command + Q (File>Quit) only.

Angry Birds uses Command + R to re-fresh the level, that was a nice feature.
 
DraziGuy said:
In the pricing debate, it is necessary to note that not all apps are created equal. Some can make more money by selling more for less, but some cannot. I think too many people are over simplifying the arguement.
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Agreed. If an app is going to have a limited audience just by what it does, cheapening it isn't going to help. But if an app could be useful to lots of people, cheapening it could help a lot.

There is an app I'd love to buy that puts a better spellchecker on my mac (basically spell checks no matter what app I have open), has a whole lot of other features that I think would be useful to many people, but they price it at an app they only expect people who really have a need for that to buy (basically writers) and would exclude other people who would find it helpful but don't really need it (they want 40 dollars). I'd love to buy it at 10-15 dollars, maybe even 20 I'd consider, but I can't justify their price for what i need it for. I think it would be useful to a lot of people but they price it too far above most people's needs.

I think part of the problem is that the app is probably not seen much therefore they need the higher price. I think though if they could put it on the app store and get more publicity and they made the price cheaper, I think they'd find they could afford to make it cheaper and they may even make more that way.
 
saving107 said:
As far as games,

Angry Birds - $9.99 (currently on sale for $4.99)
Osmos - $9.99
Enigmo - $14.99
Bejeweled - $19.99

these same titles are available on the iPhone for $2.99 or less and on the iPad for $4.99 or less, other than angry birds (first game I bought), I don't see the need to pay a third time for a game I already have on my iPhone and iPad. Mac Apps are another story, I have found some new applications for a reasonable price that I might not have discovered previously.

So far I'm liking the idea of having a unified place to purchase applications.
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I rarely play games but I have Enigmo and trying to play that on the small iPhone screen is like banging your head against the wall. I don't think they should even release it for the phone, let alone try to charge big bucks for it. The computer screen is another matter altogether.
 
I wonder...

how much information about the buyer will go back to the developer? I'd hate to see a free app turn into just a mechanism for some developer to get a stack of valid e-mail addresses and info.
 
I picked up Aperture, but some of these prices? Looks like many of these developers are charging a pretty hefty price tag for applications that duplicate free services on the web, $0.99 apps on your iPhone, or that already come free with Mac OS X.

I mean $38.99 for a contact manager?

$29.99 for an app that does screen captures?

$49.99 for a video converter so you can put your dumb home videos on your iPhone or Youtube?

$39.99 for a friggin 3D weather globe?!

Oh, this is too much, I have to go lay down. Give it about a month, other developers will just copy these silly ideas and sell it for a fraction of the cost.
 
From a developer's publicity blurb (explaining why prices may not be the same as on his own website): "For the Mac App Store, we don't set prices directly; we choose a price tier which Apple uses..."
 
do you think major game titles will come through the mac app store?

like portal 2, Civilization, Blizzards game, etc

or will they stay on steam and other download methods
 
goobot said:
10 people buying a 20$ app = 200$

50 buying a 5$ app = 250$

then your app also get popular and you make more.
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1 person buying a $200 app = $200

10 people buying a $5 app = $50

2,000 people buying a $1 app = $2,000

Wow, it's so awesome that multiplication has been invented so we can guess how much a developer can make! woohoo!

(what about the 70%:30% revenue split? We need to multiply 0.7... whew.. hard..)

my actual point is...

50 people who need a $20 app = $1,000

50 people who NEED the $10 app + 10 people who will buy the $10 app because it's cheap, and may useful = $600

The problem is that developers don't know how many people are on the fence concerning price. (That's why having a sale and/or promo period helps understand the market.)




but yeah.. things are a bit pricey...
 
Apps should be different from ios app store, unless the developor adds more content or something exclusive. Otherwise, the apps should be same price. bejewel 3 is new and price right, but I won't buy it. I got bejewel 2 on the iphone.
 
Artofilm said:
I think that the ports from iOS apps are a little overpriced, but the the higher priced programs and games is a good thing. This race to the bottom with the iPhone and iPad app store has scared away most large game developers. Maybe if the Mac App store can keep the prices acceptable then we can see some more interest and support from larger developers.
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No one would expect to buy Call of Duty for 5 or 15 bucks, but that's full blown titles we are talking about. 20 bucks to blow some diamonds in a row is absurd. Why should i buy it if i can play the same game on my iPad where i want and when i want for less? Plus iPad is ultra portable device perfect for such games, so some prices are not only insane, but suggest that developers are looking for morons.

On a unrelated note it's nice to see that all aps are compiled only for Intel, so i don't need to remove PPC code manually.
 
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