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why in the heck are apps twice as expensive on the iPad?
- Thread starter bbhegedus
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Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
and if you were to get the same game on a PSP, DS, PC, xbox, ps3, or wii, it would cost at least twice as much as it costs on the ipad. Deal with it. It makes sense really.
Something like Scrabble, Monopoly or a BIG game with a long long lifespan then the prices seem fine.
Whether something like World of Goo should be put right up there at the high end of iOS game pricing I'm not sure.
I'd not buy that kind of game for that price band. As to me it's not something that would be value for money for the amount of time I played it.
I guess everyone had to judge.
But I just hope we don't see iPad pricing keep climbing and climbing whilst iPhone prices stay low for the same games.
Whether something like World of Goo should be put right up there at the high end of iOS game pricing I'm not sure.
I'd not buy that kind of game for that price band. As to me it's not something that would be value for money for the amount of time I played it.
I guess everyone had to judge.
But I just hope we don't see iPad pricing keep climbing and climbing whilst iPhone prices stay low for the same games.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
Agreed. I remember paying almost as much for a game, back when I was using a dumb phone on Verizon. They never let you transfer the game for free to another device the way Apple does.
adnoh said:So you are happy to spend hundreds of dollars on an iPad but grudge 10 bux for a game?
Agreed. I remember paying almost as much for a game, back when I was using a dumb phone on Verizon. They never let you transfer the game for free to another device the way Apple does.
Simple answer, the potential market for iPad apps is way smaller than the iPhone / iPod Touch so for a dev to make enough money to justify the development costs they need to charge more. That said they're not exactly taking the Mick with the prices they're charging and sales happen frequently so no reason to complain IMO.
How many iPhones/iPod Touches have been sold? How many iPads? So if a developer wants to get the same return for the iPad version as the iPhone/iPod Touch version then they have to charge far, far more. It's the penalty of a less popular platform.
True, but when the iPad gets the retina display ion January, then it will play the same games as the iPhone.
But but but..............
It's not the same is it.
You have to think up a game, perhaps storyboard it, or at least work out what's doing to be going on.
Work out then start writing all the logic/the code/the maths etc etc.
The actual core, the guts of the game engine.
You release it for 99c on the iPhone.
Then you wish to do an iPad version. You don't have to do all that again.
Of course, there may be some graphics scaling up (not much from Retina, if any for much of what's on screen) and of course, the location of buttons, and perhaps a little behind the scenes stuff.
But that's nothing at all like the amount of work needed to create the item in the 1st place.
99c and 2.99 is ripping iPad people off without question.
Perhaps the iPhone price is too low?
But there should not be such a mark up when 80% of the code it probably the same.
If it was a totally from the ground up re-write then I'd accept it.
Only the developers know how much extra it is costing them to adapt/redevelop/develop in parallel for the iPad. Given that there are probably something in the region of 10:1 iPhone devices to iPad devices even if it costs 20% extra to develop the iPad version (either from the iPhone one or as additional costs as they develop in parallel) it doesn't take much to see that you need to charge a lot more to get the money back. You sell 100 (because it makes the maths easy) on the iPhone at $0.59 for a gross return of $35.4 (after Apple's cut). You will (at our 10:1 ratio) sell 10 on the iPad. If you only charge twice as much you'll get $7.14. This is almost exactly 20% so that works. In reality this is unfair as the iPad version is getting most of it's code for free from the iPhone version so iPad owners are getting a very good deal and being subsidised by iPhone owners.
The same argument could be made for iOS itself: iPad should cost more but the cost to Apple to develop the OS for them is being subsidised by iPhone buyers.
The same argument could be made for iOS itself: iPad should cost more but the cost to Apple to develop the OS for them is being subsidised by iPhone buyers.
Facts are there are just different types of developers out there.
Some people really enjoy writing things and as long as they recoup their costs and if lucky make a bit they are happy with others enjoying what they write.
Others are going to be in it for the cash and want to get as high a price as possible.
It's always been the same with software.
Over the years there have been some excellent freeware, shareware programs that everyone uses, and then you get others who wish to charge for programs that do no more.
Others asking for donations.
Obviously we should expect a better and more polished product as the price goes up, but that does not mean a low priced app cannot also be excellent.
Normally it's only when BIG BUSINESS get's involved that things get ruined and it's run by managers looking at how to make money, than developers looking to make a great product.
At the end of the day, the market (the customer) will decide.
If you get lots of people with high income that are happy to throw $10 on a program as it's only $10 then the price for everyone will rise unfortunately.
I still prefer the sell them cheap and sell millions marketplace concept than the other way round.
Some people really enjoy writing things and as long as they recoup their costs and if lucky make a bit they are happy with others enjoying what they write.
Others are going to be in it for the cash and want to get as high a price as possible.
It's always been the same with software.
Over the years there have been some excellent freeware, shareware programs that everyone uses, and then you get others who wish to charge for programs that do no more.
Others asking for donations.
Obviously we should expect a better and more polished product as the price goes up, but that does not mean a low priced app cannot also be excellent.
Normally it's only when BIG BUSINESS get's involved that things get ruined and it's run by managers looking at how to make money, than developers looking to make a great product.
At the end of the day, the market (the customer) will decide.
If you get lots of people with high income that are happy to throw $10 on a program as it's only $10 then the price for everyone will rise unfortunately.
I still prefer the sell them cheap and sell millions marketplace concept than the other way round.
Believe it or not, people are more willing to spend long times gaming on their iPad, so games for it have a higher perceived value. higher perceived value = higher price point. Don't like it? Get an iPod Touch.
lol wut?
It already plays the same games as the iPhone. (I'm completely disregarding your statement about both the retina display and January release)
The answer is simple: Because they can.
I hope Steve Jobs will suddenly say in 2011: "From now on we have 1 mobile version which is universal rawr" lol
I am not going to pay for things.app for the iMac, and the Mac Pro, and then for the iPhone4 and then again next year for the iPad.
I wouldn't mind paying $49 for things, and get access to the downloads of mobile apps as well, as a motivator that I keep using them and didn't go with say wunderwall.
to be completely honest i wouldnt mind paying twice as much for an ipad app if they actually did something to change or improve the game. But many slap HD on the end of the name and never actually do anything to the game and get twice as much for it.
Dude, the iPad is 4 times as big, paying just twice the money is a bargain (sarcasm)
Yes, The HD Apps are a horrible Bait-and-switch, I usually wait for Sales on those apps and always try to find Universal Apps, You can't do much about it, apple should encourage developers to make universal apps, but why should they when they get 30% of each sale, and now they have two sales that are even higher
Yes, The HD Apps are a horrible Bait-and-switch, I usually wait for Sales on those apps and always try to find Universal Apps, You can't do much about it, apple should encourage developers to make universal apps, but why should they when they get 30% of each sale, and now they have two sales that are even higher
Yup. Same reason many more iPhone than iPad apps are released every week. There are many, many more iPhone/Touch users out there than iPad users. Economies of scale.
Part of it is also that the iPad is a more 'exclusive' device, so developers feel justified charging a premium for their apps since people will buy them anyway. If it really bothers you just start tracking sale prices.
I'm tired of all the bitching about these dirt cheap app store apps. The vast majority are still under $10, even if they are more expensive than their iPhone counterparts. Is it really that big of a deal to pay such a small amount? Less than dinner at McDonalds?
I'm sure you all work for free, right?
Yeah, Things is the biggest expense ever for what it is, 10$ iPhone, 25$ iPad, 40$ Mac, and now they will probably make you buy it again for the Mac App store for some reason.. I don't even use things anymore because I kinda stopped using my iPhone so much now that I have my iPad