Having to buy the same apps for iPhone, iPad and even OSX?!

[alexjholland]

Hey

I have an iMac, Macbook and iPhone - and yesterday picked up an iPad 2.

First, it's awesome. Magazines and Movies (using AVPlayer HD) are fantastic.

However, I'm pretty peeved about having to buy some apps again. I've already paid for Angry Birds on my Mac and iPhone - now I have to pay if I want it on my iPad!

Same goes for Reeder, which jumps up to £6.99 for OSX! I've already paid for separate versions for both iPhone and iPad!

In contrast, some apps come as an iPad HD and an iPhone version all-in-one - which is great. I'd even accept the compromise of a discount on buying an app I already own on a different platform.

This feels cheap though. My iPad is better for gaming than my iPhone, but I can't bring myself to go out and pay for most of the games I already own all over again!

I'd

 

[radiogoober]

Hey

I have an iMac, Macbook and iPhone - and yesterday picked up an iPad 2.

First, it's awesome. Magazines and Movies (using AVPlayer HD) are fantastic.

However, I'm pretty peeved about having to buy some apps again. I've already paid for Angry Birds on my Mac and iPhone - now I have to pay if I want it on my iPad!

Same goes for Reeder, which jumps up to £6.99 for OSX! I've already paid for separate versions for both iPhone and iPad!

In contrast, some apps come as an iPad HD and an iPhone version all-in-one - which is great. I'd even accept the compromise of a discount on buying an app I already own on a different platform.

This feels cheap though. My iPad is better for gaming than my iPhone, but I can't bring myself to go out and pay for most of the games I already own all over again!

I'd

Yeah, I agree with you on some fronts. Particularly for iPad/iPhone. I wish all devs would just make their app universal for iDevices. Ie, Mirror's Edge. It's the exact same game, just formatted for the iPad screen, and it costs way more and they release it as two different games... Just make it universal! I refuse to buy it for both devices.

Currently there is no way to make an app that can be bought and ran on both iDevices *and* the Mac. Maybe in the future, but for now - impossible.

 

[Matthew9559]

Yup. Its crazy. They could at least offer some sort of discount.

 

[ESPN]

Yeah, I agree with you on some fronts. Particularly for iPad/iPhone. I wish all devs would just make their app universal for iDevices. Ie, Mirror's Edge. It's the exact same game, just formatted for the iPad screen, and it costs way more and they release it as two different games... Just make it universal! I refuse to buy it for both devices.

Currently there is no way to make an app that can be bought and ran on both iDevices *and* the Mac. Maybe in the future, but for now - impossible.

It makes sense, just look at the current game system

Xbox 360, PS3 games are all 59.99
Wii 49.99
3DS 34.99
PSP 29.99

Advance devices require more work which is why there has to be higher prices for the playstations, xboxes, ipads and macbooks.

 

[dave420]

You don't have to pay again, just pick the iPhone version from the app store and double the size. I prefer to pick apps that offer both an iPad and iPhone version in one. Some don't give that option, so I only buy the iPhone version instead of the more expensive iPad version.

 

[aleni]

i decided to never buy an iPhone games again. i just buy the iPad version because it's better to play games on the big screen and especially with dual core processor with much better VGA in the iPad 2.

my iPhone is being used for anything except gaming.

wish the devs make all apps universal though.

 

[alexjholland]

I'm quite happy paying the higher price for a higher resolution iPad app; but I don't then expect to have to pay for the cheaper iPhone version too.

And running iPhone apps on iPad just isn't an option - am I the only person who finds them intolerably low resolution?

Also, game progress syncing between different platforms would be great. It's pain enough having three different Angry Birds to complete - prospect of continuing any kind of more engaging game on different devices is out of the window! iCloud?

 

[HazyCloud]

Also, game progress syncing between different platforms would be great. It's pain enough having three different Angry Birds to complete - prospect of continuing any kind of more engaging game on different devices is out of the window! iCloud?

I really effing hope so. I'm so sick of playing a game like Infinity Blade on my iPad and then having completely different stats on my iPhone. They should totally be in synch.

Also, as we can see with Infinity Blade, developers can create a very good game that runs on both pad and phone. I wish EA and Gameloft would do the same and since they don't, I only buy their games when they are .99.

 

[Gav2k]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

You could switch to android and download one version for all phones and pads but if you tried playing angry birds on a low end android phone it's laggy as hell and on a pad it's pixelated... The choice is yours.

 

[HazyCloud]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

You could switch to android and download one version for all phones and pads but if you tried playing angry birds on a low end android phone it's patty as hell and on a pad it's pixelated... The choice is yours.

Thanks for a great laugh.

 

[err404]

I like the idea of an app having an more expensive Universal version and a cheaper iPhone only version (As opposed to dedicated iPhone/iPad versions). This helps to justify the higher price of the iPad app while keeping the price cheap for the iPhone. A couple of apps are following this model already. I hope it takes off.

 

[HazyCloud]

I like the idea of an app having an more expensive Universal version and a cheaper iPhone only version (As opposed to dedicated iPhone/iPad versions). This help to justify the higher price of the iPad app while keeping the price cheap for the iPhone. A couple of apps are following this model already. I hope it takes off.

I can get down with this. Sword and Sorcery has done it and I hope it takes off. 4.99 for universal and 2.99 for iPhone only.

 

[radiogoober]

I can get down with this. Sword and Sorcery has done it and I hope it takes off. 4.99 for universal and 2.99 for iPhone only.

How do you get past the first boss in that game? The thing with the horns? I just keep running between rooms and it follows me everywhere.

 

[mattraehl]

How do you get past the first boss in that game? The thing with the horns? I just keep running between rooms and it follows me everywhere.

You do the only thing that should come naturally when encoutering a giant disembodied demon. FLEE!

Seriously, leave the way you came, double time. You got the book, get the heck out of there.

 

[radiogoober]

You do the only thing that should come naturally when encoutering a giant disembodied demon. FLEE!

Seriously, leave the way you came, double time. You got the book, get the heck out of there.

Where do you go with the book? (sorry)

 

[HazyCloud]

Where do you go with the book? (sorry)

Here you go. Here's a walkthrough.

link

 

[radiogoober]

Ty!

 

[chrono1081]

Yeah, I agree with you on some fronts. Particularly for iPad/iPhone. I wish all devs would just make their app universal for iDevices. Ie, Mirror's Edge. It's the exact same game, just formatted for the iPad screen, and it costs way more and they release it as two different games... Just make it universal! I refuse to buy it for both devices.

Currently there is no way to make an app that can be bought and ran on both iDevices *and* the Mac. Maybe in the future, but for now - impossible.

This is incorrect. Art assets have to be (or should be if the developer cares about graphics) made for the resolution of different devices, testing needs to be done on both devices, both devices have a different aspect ratio as far as the screen goes which needs taken into account for both apps and games. Sure there is some resizing that can be done automatically but a lot of it cannot, especially in games.

There is a ton of work for making apps for different devices and the devs need compensated accordingly. Its a bonus if someone does a universal app. (I personally make universal apps because I see it as being more attractive to the consumer even though it costs me money and time).

As for Mac OS apps and iOS apps that'll never happen. Even though its fairly easy to adjust an app between iPad and iPhone, Mac OS is a completely different animal and generally more complex to program for (at least in my opinion). Many apps need re-written from scratch.