App Subscriptions rejoice!

[jman800]

/Sarcasm. Either im really a moron and reading it totally wrong, But app subscriptions? As in paying monthly for a application? And then.. Level packs? And... we like this?

If that is true, i don't see how anyone could... I can't imagine paying monthly for ANY of the games or apps i have currently.. It's just really not worth it to me. Then there's buying level packs to continue play, isn't that pretty much saying.."Buy our 5 dollar app, then if we update it, you buy it for $0.99!" Man, WHAT A DEAL! Yeah.. So now updates are going cost us, if the Developers feel to do so... If this is not how its going to be, someone pm me so i can delete this and move on.. If not then, what are your (The community of Application Consumers) thoughts about this? In a nut-shell (to me) Its saying, "We are charging for upgrades and sucking more money out of you as we can possibly get."

Now I know someone on this thread is going to say something along the lines of "You cheap ***** stop whining and just buy it."


I really don't understand whats the point of saying that, but if you feel the need, carry on. So how far is our app budget going to go up?



This is my opinion on things so you are free to tell me yours, please try to avoid personal attacks on my opinion or others, Thanks.

 

[MAG.]

Yes, they are gonna charge us for downloading new stuff (like levels, features, etc...) for the application that you already bought. You got it right.

 

[jman800]

That's very disappointing... Now my App store counter will rise to the 100's with 0.99$ Bug tweaks! -__-

 

[Night Spring]

That's very disappointing... Now my App store counter will rise to the 100's with 0.99$ Bug tweaks! -__-

I believe the plan is to allow developers to charge for new content (like more levels). I doubt Apple will allow them to charge for bug fixes, and if they do, I'm sure they will be shouted down by public outrage.

 

[firewood]

I can't imagine paying monthly for ANY of the games or apps i have currently..

They are not for you.

They are for people with money who are willing to pay. There are thousands and thousands of those people, and those are the customers who many developers develop for.

Not you.

 

[Randman]

It will also help the App Store.

Now developers can offer an app in a Lite or free version then you pay for an upgrade if you want and download the additional stuff.

Or for books. Say you download a translator app. Then you can pay for extra packs if you want as you go along.

I think it could be a good thing.

 

[winks360]

Ya, this is trick to get us to spend more money, but I also agree that I don't think that they will make us pay for bug fixes. Just for added content. Also "free apps" will remain free, which means you will never have paid content in it so you will be safe for all your free apps.

Also if you look at it from a developer's point of view (cause there are lots and lots of small timers) this is a huge help. Basically for map packs, if someone created "space destroyers", and then wanted to make more levels later as "space destroyers 2". It would get lost in all of the apps on iTunes App store causing less sales for him.

Thats just a 2 sided coin for ya...

 

[admanimal]

Now developers can offer an app in a Lite or free version then you pay for an upgrade if you want and download the additional stuff.

Not exactly...developers are not allowed to offer any additional paid content in free apps, so free/Lite versions will still work the same way as they always have, i.e. you'll have to download the full version separately.

 

[Gokunama]

I wonder if that means app developers can charge for updates that include more features... might be good incentive to add better features.

 

[superstrikertwo]

I wonder if that means app developers can charge for updates that include more features... might be good incentive to add better features.

They can already charge for updates.

 

[Delirium39]

They can already charge for updates.

No, we can't. We can only create new apps, and charge for them. All updates are currently free.

 

[firewood]

They can already charge for updates.

Not in the App store.

You have to buy a completely separate app. Usually two different icons. And any saved data can't migrate to the newer app without going through a server, since they are sandboxed apart on the iPhone.

 

[Michael CM1]

No, we can't. We can only create new apps, and charge for them. All updates are currently free.

This is one reason I'm all for the new system, and I'm not a developer. After some developer gets an app out there, what real motivation is there for making it better? You can add all of those new features that the reviewers clamor for, but you don't see a dime from anybody who bought it already.

I could also see this being highly beneficial for something like the MLB At Bat app. Maybe I don't want EVERYBODY'S audio. Maybe I just want the Atlanta broadcasts, and perhaps MLB could sell an app at $10 that does that. Add individual feeds at 99 cents each or everybody else for another $10.

I really think the lunatic fringe of the Apple community is who is whining the most about this. These are the people who probably haven't paid for an app that costs more than 99 cents and have come up with the most creative nightmare scenarios for it.

I can see a lot of apps starting smaller and building to keep gaining income. Super Monkeyball could've started at maybe 99 cents for the first two levels, then you can keep adding sets of levels like the demo showed. That sure beats paying $9.99 for everything and then cringing as the price gets cut to $1.99.

 

[dscuber9000]

I see Apple handling this much like how Microsoft does with the Xbox 360. They won't allow developers to charge for simple "bug fixes." Those are free updates like normal. However, additional content, will be available for separate purchase for those who want it.

And like the Xbox 360, I doubt that we will see much of "new clothes for your dog" for in-app purchases. Maybe at first we'll see a bit of that, but it will die away once developers realize that no one is going to purchase that.

Honestly, professional developers won't abuse this system.

 

[superstrikertwo]

My bad I thought it was already in place.

 

[DreamPod]

Think of this example. There's a game out there, Chimps Ahoy - a fun little game kinda like Arkanoid with two paddles, came with 100 levels. I think the game did okay on the App Store, because the company released a Halloween-themed version of the game for $.99 with something like 36 more levels and new powerups and stuff. I would never have heard of Chimps Ahoy Spooked had I not have been checking to see if there was a bugfix update for the original game (there was). And Spooked was a great add-on, the levels were well-designed and it had more of the cool music, art-style and humor.

But I have to wonder how many people that bought and liked the original don't know about the additonal game - it definitely doesn't have anywhere near the same amount of reviews in the app store. Had it been offered to people who owned the game from within the game as an add-on for $.99, then everyone actually playing the first game would hear of it, and that would give the developer incentive to make more add-ons. A great game would keep getting new content. And hey, what if the company decided to offer for $4 a subscription to all future updates? Pay $4 and you could get 10 updates over the next couple years.

For subscriptions, also consider non-games. Right now there's no easy way an electronic magazine subscription would work on the iPhone. What about a cheap subscription to the New York Times crossword puzzles?

Apple is just giving developers more options, I'm all for more options. Sure it can be abused, but just don't buy those apps. It didn't take long for Xbox Live Arcade developers to learn not to release "horse-armor" paid content