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'Premium' App Store Rumors Revived

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Apr 12, 2001
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Wired revives rumors of a "premium" App Store dedicated to applications for the iPhone and iPod touch priced at $20 or more. The move could provide a means for more sophisticated apps to be featured and protected from the downward pricing pressure seen in the App Store.
We're hearing rumors that Apple could introduce a "premium" section in the store, in order to sell more expensive third-party programs. The premium section would largely be focused on games, giving game makers a channel to offer more in-depth (and pricier) titles without getting lost in the clutter of free and $1 apps.
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Wired also speculates that a "premium" store could be popular with business-oriented software companies.
This "velvet rope" section of Apple's store could feature software programs that cost $20 or more, making it friendlier to publishers whose products are too complicated to be created in one developer's spare time. That change would make the App Store more friendly to game publishers, as well as enterprise software companies such as SAP that would otherwise prefer to focus on the more business-user targeted BlackBerry phones.
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PocketGamer.biz reported on similar rumors in late January. While PocketGamer.biz had no information on a possible release date for the new App Store, they speculated that Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference this summer would be an obvious opportunity, but that a special games-focused media event could also be a possibility. Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 media event scheduled for next Tuesday provides yet another opportunity for such an announcement.

Article Link: 'Premium' App Store Rumors Revived
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/14/premium-app-store-rumors-revived/
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I'm all for this. The more full featured Apps should have their place. This is not to take away from the really great less expensive apps out there.
 
I haven't seen an iPT app worth more than $6 to me, and I have hundreds. Especially the games.

When I first saw the title of this article I thought it was some store with pure download versions of their OSX apps. If they ever did that I wouldn't be disheartened, unless it becomes a hassle to get the program again when a HD crash occurs.
 
I'm interested to see what will be popping up in this new section.

As a gamer myself, I'll ask other gamer's out there...Would you pay 20 bucks for even one of your favorite iPhone/Touch games right now? (and if not just one, how about your top 5 games) Which leads me to add, How much better can it really get to make you wanna spend 20 bucks?!
 
No offense to Wired but their story is just a rehash of the previous one from Pocketgamer, and most likely wrong or at least inaccurate. IT is hard to imagine $20 applications being popular enough - maybe $10 as the premium price.
 
Maybe this is the chance for Astrolabe or some other astrological software company to get on the horn regarding charting software. I don't know.

BJ
 
=MuLti-CeLL= said:
As a gamer myself, I'll ask other gamer's out there...Would you pay 20 bucks for even one of your favorite iPhone/Touch games right now? (and if not just one, how about your top 5 games) Which leads me to add, How much better can it really get to make you wanna spend 20 bucks?!
Click to expand...

This kind of gets back to what's been said by the side of people who are willing to see $20 games nurtured on the iPhone in all the past threads on this topic...

Are there games on the market worth $20 now? No. That's the whole point. I wouldn't pay $20 for any game I have on my iPhone now.

But there are games which, had they received more development and been longer, I would've considered paying $20 for. If Hero of Sparta had 3x as many levels and they had taken more time to put in more animations / kill sequences and so on of comparable quality, I would've paid $20 for it. If Brothers in Arms likewise were 3x as long, and they had spent more time ironing out the issues with some of the controls in the game (e.g. driving the tanks and jeeps), I would've likewise considered it easily worth $20. If Spore went through several of the stages of development instead of just having the microbial segment, then I think it likewise would've been worth $20. I don't know if I'd care for Rolando being a lot longer than it was, but I do think it shows that ngmoco has the skills to make an iPhone game that takes on the PSP or DS in quality.

So my argument is that this small number of developers (Gameloft, EA, ngmoco, etc), at least, already have shown that they can make games that compete with $20-35 games on the PSP and DS in terms of graphics/sound/animation quality, and at least sometimes in terms of play quality too (for instance, in BiA, it's really only driving the tanks and jeeps around that isn't great... gameplay quality on foot is quite good). So if those same games scaled up to the length and plot sophistication of DS games, I think they might be worth $20.

OTOH, I'd still want to see enough pricing pressure to push these games down, rather than have them come out and still sell for the same $20 six months later. I like that the App Store pushes developers to titer their price down over time to boost sales -- it makes sense, since they can pay off their amortized development cost early and then allow gamers to get products at discount. It makes up also for the fact that these games will not have a used marketplace.
 
macaco74 said:
not sure any iphone app is worth $20, we shall see!
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As others have said, enterprise apps easily have this value and more, to say nothing of the fact that DS and PSPportable games are $30-$60 and those sell plenty well to people who seem to think it's worth it.
 
I would prefer a smaller app store with stuff you know is going to be good. Just compare the current iPhone apps with Mac apps. The Mac apps are way superior.
 
Although I don't like the idea of spending $20+ dollars on an iPhone or iPod app, I think this will inevitably bring big name developers to the platform. This will be for the best in the long run. Personally, I would pay $20+ for a good iWork and Office compatible office suite for an iPod or iPhone.
 
Speaking particularly about games....

I think the free market has decided that complicated games (i.e. games that take a development team to code and have a steep learning curve for the user) don't belong on the iPhone. No one bought their iPhone to use primarily as a gaming console. People want quick, simple games that can be learned in a few seconds, can be played for a few minutes at a time, and generally provide a quick (albeit short-lived) burst of entertainment before moving on to the next game. Nothing wrong with that.

The problem I have is that "larger" game publishers are upset because their $20 games aren't selling well and think the reason why is because they're getting squeezed out by 99 cent games and need their own "special" store to get noticed. The reason the big, complicated $20 games aren't selling well is because NO ONE WANTS TO BUY THEM. They don't fit the profile of the kinds of games people want to play on their phone. This special store won't lift their sales and will eventually be a flop (for games, anyway).

As far as a special store for premium productivity apps and so forth, again, if a doctor wants to spend $20 or $100 or $500 on a specific specialty app, it isn't like he or she is going to not buy it because it's surrounded by 99 cent "pull my finger" apps. They're going to buy those apps if they need them, regardless of the price of the app relative to all of the 99 cent apps.

Apple is just doing this because they're tired of hearing from all of the large game and app publishers complaining about not having enough sales, and blame the app store itself rather than looking at their own apps' low value to iPhone users.
 
Sounds like a good idea.

The app store is going to be killed by the 'wont pay more than 99c for an app' crowd. Companies and developers are going to think twice about making their potential 'killer app' if they can't recoup their costs in the knowledge that the 99c mentality is around.

There are great applications on other smartphones that the iPhone could do with - but these aren't going to be ported unless people, once again, are prepared to spend more than 99c on an app. Developers ( not the hobbyists) are not cheap.

The iPhone will become the cheap and nasty smartphone application platform.

No application worth more than $20? I've bought applications for my Nokia for $20, and they've been worth every dollar.
 
$20 is way too much. We're talking Apps for a phone here.. especially when we pay this much for the phone and a contract.

Depends what sort of applications we'll see, if they are "worth" $20 - and if they are consumer or professional oriented.
 
Sounds like bull to me. The concept makes .00 cents and is very un-Apple like. What is the logic of having two different stores that are then divided again in various categories (utilities, games, business, etc). That just creates consumer confusion.

Look at it this way... Apple just released an iPod with NO buttons. They like things simple over there at One Infinite Loop.

App pricing thus far has been a model of Free Market enterprise. The establishment of a new "premium" store is not going to suddenly add value to even the best of apps. Each app stands on its own merits. Calling Wal-Mart a premium reseller of fine goods doesn't make it so.
 
Kilamite said:
$20 is way too much. We're talking Apps for a phone here.. especially when we pay this much for the phone and a contract.

Depends what sort of applications we'll see, if they are "worth" $20 - and if they are consumer or professional oriented.
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:rolleyes:

People pay just as much for plans for their blackberry and nokias and spend $20 and more for apps.

The culture of cheapskate 99 centers if continued will lead to developers not even bothering to build iphone apps any more.

Butt.... buttt....buttt... if everyone on earth with an iphone buys their 99 cent app then they can retire in luxury!!
:rolleyes:

To which I say, take a business course.
 
plumbingandtech said:
People pay just as much for plans for their blackberry and nokias and spend $20 and more for apps.
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What's your point? That makes it okay for apps to be $20 does it? And I'm not really in the BlackBerry/Noka loop - what apps are $20?
 
Kilamite said:
What's your point? That makes it okay for apps to be $20 does it? And I'm not really in the BlackBerry/Noka loop - what apps are $20?
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The point is your perception of value is and can be different then others. And value is in the eye of the user, and to make blanket statement like:

$20 is way too much. We're talking Apps for a phone here..
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is laughable.

And what of PSP portable and DS games, which are $30-$60, should they be 99 cents too?



as for the $20 apps..

google it.
 
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