'Premium' App Store Rumors Revived

alexlovesmacs said:
Apple should call it the App Store Pro.:p
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Haha, nice! I think this is a great idea though. I am now a developer but will not be making high cost apps like that, but I think it would be very beneficial to the app store and the platform as a whole to take some actions like this.

I also think Apple needs to lax on the SDK just a little bit and get true turn by turn gps in there and push or some other solution!!!
 
I would gladly pay more for a good iPhone application, at least when it is a solution to a problem I am facing while using my iPhone; saving me time and money in the end.
 
I paid $15 for i41CX+ RPN Calculator with Printer

It was a little bit on the expensive side but then I might easily spend that much at Starbucks.
 
manu chao said:
It was a little bit on the expensive side but then I might easily spend that much at Starbucks.
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Very interesting comment, kind of puts things in perspective. However, the difference being that you know EXACTLY what you are getting at Starbucks with that amount of money. It would kind of suck if you spent $15 on an app, screwed around with it for 2 weeks because it wasn't exactly what you hoped for, and then a couple days later you find an app that is much better and cheaper. Makes you feel like you paid to be a beta tester, when you actually had more important things to do with your time.

My point being, I'll certainly pay $20 for an app. But, I better know exactly what I am getting and it better save me time (not waste my time) - none of this "It's v1.0, it'll get better" nonsense.
 
If people are willing to pay $20 for a iPhone app then so be it.

There had better be a way for people to download a demo to try first.
 
If the app is great, I don't think people would be reluctant to pay $20 for it, as long as the developer kept it updated and fixed bugs quickly.

However, I've yet to buy or see an app worth more than $4.99 so far. Most are garbage and stupid.
 
mkrishnan said:
Is there data to back this up? My impression is that a number of the most complex iPhone games, such as Rolando, BiA, Hero of Sparta, more recently Zen bound, etc, did quite well sales-wise.
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My data is the Top 25 paid application list in the app store. Lots of 99 cent games and not many $20+ games on the list. It's always been like this

mkrishnan said:
To add to my claim above that some of the longer, more complex games on the App Store have been big sellers...

Rolando passes 700,000 sales
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If you read your own source that supposedly backs up your claim that expensive apps do very well in the app store, you would have read that the 700,000 sales count includes the lite 99 cent version of the app as well, which I would bet sold 10 times as many copies as the $5 or $10 versions.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that there is no REASON to have a separate app store for expensive apps. If a game or app is REALLY GOOD and has VALUE to the iPhone audience, people will purchase it. What I'm NOT buying from these game and app companies is that they're blaming their poor sales on the fact that consumers simply can't find their apps among a sea of 99 cent apps, which is a bunch of bull.
 
stewacide said:
I have a French-English dictionary (Collins IIRC) that's easily worth the +$20.

Although beyond heavy-duty reference apps I agree it's hard imagining what'd be worth +$20.
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I would pay $60 for mobile pages, keynote and numbers if they could also edit their Microsoft counter parts.
 
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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Agreed. There are medical apps for Blackberry that sell for more than the Blackberry itself.
 
Setting a price tag of $20 by no means makes it premium. I can't see why Apple would want to segregate strictly by price. That would need a mechanism to make sure an application was "premium". I don't think Apple wants to be in that business. The challenge related to the pricing is that this is a new market place and everyone is still trying to figure out price point to sales volume. Pretty interesting to watch. I can see how people who are only exposed to Free or $.99 apps may not think the application space provides enough value. In some ways and some apps you pay for what you get. I would expect a higher correlation between price and quality, but that's not always the case. Will be interesting to see what happens.
 
automan98 said:
Setting a price tag of $20 by no means makes it premium. ... I would expect a higher correlation between price and quality, but that's not always the case. Will be interesting to see what happens.
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Excellent point. Just because an app will cost $20 doesn't mean it's a quality app. Especially with how easy it is for developers to change the price from, say, $4.99 to $19.99.
 
The App store is getting a bit too crowded so I do think more segregation is a good thing... I'm just not sure if doing it by price point is the wisest though.

I think adding a new column on the app store next to 'popularity' would be nicer. That new column would be "Revenue Last 30 Days", called "Revenue". This way quality niche applications which deserve every cent of their $20 price wouldn't be buried beneath everything.
 
kas23 said:
My point being, I'll certainly pay $20 for an app. But, I better know exactly what I am getting
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You illustrate the point that below a certain price people are willing to spend the money regardless of whether they really know the app.
Most people have bought numerous software titles costing much more then $10, nowadays almost everybody offers trial versions but not so long ago that was not that common. People bought software anyway (I bought Aperture 1.0 without a trial version at a time when it did cost me $300).

You buy these 'expensive' software titles because you have read about them, because you feel confident that you know pretty much what can do. There is no reason why this should be any different for iPhone apps. Sure, you don't browse the AppStore, see a $30 app, read the description and say, yhees, that sounds like a cool app, let's buy it. But you would not do this for any app. You buy a $30 app because you have read or heard about it somewhere else.

But the key element to atone the critics would be trial versions, which was were you were heading with your post.
 
BenjyD said:
Documents to Go is $30+ on other PalmOS, Windows Mobile etc.
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And Iambic's Pocket PC offerings all come in around $20.00 as well.

Frankly, there are some great productivity programs that I've paid $20-30 dollars for on other platforms, and they've been worth every penny. Personally, I try to use trials where available, and keep myself to certain standards, such as:

-Do I need this program to greatly improve my device?
-What are other programs that offer similar functions selling for?
-Is this a program that is likely to either not require much support or is backed up by a reputable software house that isn't going to drop support anytime soon?

If what I want satisfies those requirements, I don't mind dropping the cash.

sharkinfested said:
Maybe this gives credence to a tablet/netbook/eBook device. Many new book titles are in the $20 range. Also applications and games for a netbook-like device might well be offered for 20+ bucks or so. Just a thought.
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Applications, yes, books, no. There's no way Apple would go into the ebook business and not be price-competitive against the Kindle book prices, especially with the Kindle app available for the iPhone. Why pay $20 for a book from Apple instead of $9.99 from Amazon?
 
[QUOTE/]There's no way Apple would go into the ebook business and not be price-competitive against the Kindle book prices, especially with the Kindle app available for the iPhone. Why pay $20 for a book from Apple instead of $9.99 from Amazon?[/QUOTE]

Admittedly the idea of a netbook/tablet/eBook is probably just wishful thinking on my part but I’m not sure you can rule it out based on this rumor.

I mean, we are assuming that the $20 price point in this rumor is accurate. It is a rumor after all so the price might be $10 or it might not be based on pricing at all. Rather than a premium iTunes store it could just be a new section that encompasses products for this new device. Books titles could be competitively priced with Amazon, and I would hope that there would be apps under $20 for it as well.

I also don’t think you can rule out an eBook simply because there is a Kindle app for the iPhone. I’m pretty sure Apple didn’t write that app so if they wanted to make an eBook reader there would be nothing stopping them.

Oh, I know a netbook/tablet/eBook probably won’t happen but, dang it I want one!
 
sharkinfested said:
There's no way Apple would go into the ebook business and not be price-competitive against the Kindle book prices, especially with the Kindle app available for the iPhone. Why pay $20 for a book from Apple instead of $9.99 from Amazon?
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Admittedly the idea of a netbook/tablet/eBook is probably just wishful thinking on my part but I’m not sure you can rule it out based on this rumor.

I mean, we are assuming that the $20 price point in this rumor is accurate. It is a rumor after all so the price might be $10 or it might not be based on pricing at all. Rather than a premium iTunes store it could just be a new section that encompasses products for this new device. Books titles could be competitively priced with Amazon, and I would hope that there would be apps under $20 for it as well.

I also don’t think you can rule out an eBook simply because there is a Kindle app for the iPhone. I’m pretty sure Apple didn’t write that app so if they wanted to make an eBook reader there would be nothing stopping them.

Oh, I know a netbook/tablet/eBook probably won’t happen but, dang it I want one!
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I'm not ruling out an ebook reader entirely...just pointing out a $20+ price point on books wouldnt make sense.

We'll see, but I could see Apple using Amazon as a clearinghouse for books if they ran an ebook store. Why go through the trouble of negotiating with publishers when Amazon's done all the legwork AND are already willing to share with Apple?
 
question fear said:
I'm not ruling out an ebook reader entirely...just pointing out a $20+ price point on books wouldnt make sense.

We'll see, but I could see Apple using Amazon as a clearinghouse for books if they ran an ebook store. Why go through the trouble of negotiating with publishers when Amazon's done all the legwork AND are already willing to share with Apple?
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Good point
 
Speaking as a developer, programmer and publisher I see a fundamental flaw in the thinking here. A lot of developers see the price of packaged software and think they should be getting $20, $40, etc for their downloadable software. Wrong.

With software sold in stores here is how it breaks down:
Retailer gets 25% to 45%.
Wholesale distributor gets 5% to 20%.
Packaging $5 to $15.
Sell through rate on product run is about 50% and you're doing well, then it's all to the discount bin or the trash heap.

So with a $40 product the retailer takes $10, the distributor took $3, the packaging cost you $10 and you had to produce 10,000 to sell 5,000. That's using middle of the road numbers and a great sell through rate. For all that risk you get:
$7 = $30-$10-$3-$10x2
$7 x 5,000 units = $35,000

Now you have to pay the bank for the interest on the loan. At 10% interest (you didn't use you Credit Card but got a real loan and a great rate) on a two year note you're paying $7K just for the product so that comes out of the $35K bringing your take down to $28K over a two year period.

This means that an equivelant product that costs $10 on Apps Store is making more money for the developer than a packaged $40 product. Developers need to stop whining about the low Apps store pricing and start producing great products and then market them better.

Reality check: downloadable software makes a lot more money for the developer at a lot lower price point than packaged software. Downloadable software should cost a lot less. As you decrease your software price you increase your sales. Studies show it over and over. Of course, it helps to have a good product.
 
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