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Get your wallet ready...

C

chucksmac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 8, 2004
19
0
Ever since the first iPhone upgrade came out I realized something that I fear might happen. After downloading the first upgrade I noticed how it was convienantly placed within iTunes to be activated, the same way a song, ringtone, or "new widget" might be placed.

We are all waiting on new great features, with cute little icons, but I think we should all be worried. I forsee Apple releasing a bunch of new "widgets", but guess what, they are going to come with a cost. You want a Spanish to English convertor, it will cost. You want a Yellow Page widget, it will cost, the same goes for anything Apple allows to be uploaded to the iPhone via itunes.

I forsee an entire catalog of programs for the iPhone that can be turned on or off, added or removed as easy as updating your iTunes library. This will all come at a cost. .99 here, 2.99 there, and so on. As we all wait for this great new software update with a bunch of new great things, I anticipate it coming with a price. Copy and pasting, deleting emails will come easy and probably for free, but new functionality and widgets...that will come with a price. I don't think Apple is in the business of giving away anything. The iPhone is set up to make money and we are the suckers who are going to be paying and complaining the whole way through.

I like my iPhone, but I clearly see a change in the Apple brand and it's not for the better.

C.
 
Probably true. Sony Ericsson would love me to buy all sorts of junk through their phone... but I don't. I spend money on things I really want or need, not what they think I should need.

The fault lies with consumers who are only too willing to support these income streams by making these micro-payments. Everyone has a choice not to buy; exercise it.
 
releasing a "core" platform and then leveraging it with new add ons" which you charge the base for is hardly new or unique to Apple and the iPhone.

Take an MMOLRPG game, for example. They give you a core game you can pay to play. Some updates are always free. Then 6 months later you'll get an expansion you need to pay for. Then another and another, etc.

You can choose to pay for the content you want..or choose not to.

I don't see it as a problem.
 
Absolutely unsurprising, as it's been around in the cell phone/smartphone arena for quite some time. Hell, I remember buying some apps for my Samsung i600 smartphone some six years ago or so.

I won't mind at all if they go this route, dependant on a few things:
1) Application updates, such as them making tweaks to things like the Calendar or Safari, remain free and part of the usual update process.
2) Price. Say they throw up, for example, a Sudoku game for the iPhone. Well, if the want to charge in the $5-10 dollar range, that's fine. But if they start hitting $19.99+ then forget it.
 
Well, I can see Apple charging for new widgets and people happily paying for them. Then, when Apple feels like it they will make those same widgets FREE! Then they can claim it's the 'way technology goes' :rolleyes:
 
VoodooDaddy said:
Pretty much every phone has pay for content. Who releases everything for free???
Click to expand...

Agreed, but the overall impression you get from reading these forums and others like it, is that many iPhone users are waiting for the next big iPhone update, which they think is going to come with all these great bells and whistles. The update will fix bugs and some usability, but I don't think they are going to be mind blowing. Mind blowing comes with a price.

C.
 
chucksmac said:
Agreed, but the overall impression you get from reading these forums and others like it, is that many iPhone users are waiting for the next big iPhone update, which they think is going to come with all these great bells and whistles. The update will fix bugs and some usability, but I don't think they are going to be mind blowing. Mind blowing comes with a price.

C.
Click to expand...

I dont expect any new apps for free to be quite honest. Would be nice, yes. But Ive seen it with the Blackberry and Sidekick platform before that, 99% of apps come at a price.

However, bug fixes and improvements to the OS better be free. They try to charge for copy/paste or safari improvments, mail improvements, etc and it will be the same kind of backlash as we saw over the price cut.
 
And with the new iPod Touch, widgets for everyone! All that black space on those screens are a screaming to be filled up with icons.

C.
 
chucksmac said:
And with the new iPod Touch, widgets for everyone! All that black space on those screens are a screaming to be filled up with icons.

C.
Click to expand...

I said this in another thread, with the touch, from my understanding, you can set a wallpaper behind those icons no? So the black space wont be as noticable.

Or will the wallpaper be like it is on the iphone, ONLY viewable from the unlock screen?
 
I think what is FREE on most phones should be FREE on the iPhone. All platforms charge for additional applications.
 
It is perfectly fine for Apple to charge for ANY software they create for the iPhone. The problem is that the iPhone is a CLOSED PLATFORM, giving the user NO CHOICE except to either buy the Apple's apps, or not have these functions on their phone.

If Apple opened up the iPhone to third party development, then you would have a choice to install a program from a third party vendor (free or for fee), or PAY Apple for a similar program. Apple's App would have to be BETTER then the free apps to get you to buy it, thus raising the bar for Apple's programmers, and giving the user a choice.

It is this "closed environment" that is also scaring me, because all of Apple's iPhone updates thus far have been about increasing Apple's revenue stream instead of enhancing functionality and building a more rock-solid product. (As long as Safari continues to crash the iPod, Apple should NOT be tying up their resources on making the "starbucks apps.")

This is why some lifelong Apple fans (such as myself) are growing somewhat uncomfortable with Apple's latest business maneuvers.

-propynyl
 
a) did anyone actually think Apple would embrace third party developers?

b) what in their past would make this likely?

c) Apple doesn't exist to give you choices on your iPhone, or anything else for that matter. It exists to make money. Yes, there are other things that are nice that come along for the ride, but enhancing revenue is the primary driving force behind everything.

Maybe if people fully realized that, they'd be a little more understanding of things and change their buying habits accordingly.
 
propynyl said:
(As long as Safari continues to crash the iPod, Apple should NOT be tying up their resources on making the "starbucks apps.")

This is why some lifelong Apple fans (such as myself) are growing somewhat uncomfortable with Apple's latest business maneuvers.

-propynyl
Click to expand...


You couldn't have said it better, but just as Starbucks is on every corner of the universe and appeals to the average "new" american coffee drinker, Apple is trying to come across the same way to the same demo. Starbucks, the price drop, and whatever is next, is just a plan to put an iPhone latte in the hands of every american.

I don't drink coffee, I don't care about Starbucks music, and I'm not the target audience that Steverino is trying to reach.

C.
 
chucksmac said:
I forsee an entire catalog of programs for the iPhone that can be turned on or off, added or removed as easy as updating your iTunes library. This will all come at a cost. .99 here, 2.99 there, and so on. As we all wait for this great new software update with a bunch of new great things, I anticipate it coming with a price. Copy and pasting, deleting emails will come easy and probably for free, but new functionality and widgets...that will come with a price. I don't think Apple is in the business of giving away anything. The iPhone is set up to make money and we are the suckers who are going to be paying and complaining the whole way through.

I like my iPhone, but I clearly see a change in the Apple brand and it's not for the better.

C.
Click to expand...

Ummm, you do realize that Apple chose an accounting method where the profits for the iPhone are amortized over the next 24 months so that they can provide updates in functionality for free rather than having to charge for them (like the 802.11 N enabler fiasco)? The new functionality and widgets will be free.
 
All iPhone updates will be free, according to company officials soon after the keynote introduction.
 
karlfranz said:
Ummm, you do realize that Apple chose an accounting method where the profits for the iPhone are amortized over the next 24 months so that they can provide updates in functionality for free rather than having to charge for them (like the 802.11 N enabler fiasco)? The new functionality and widgets will be free.
Click to expand...

Functionality and a Soduku widget are not in the same class. Fixing the iPhone's bugs and make it more efficient I can see as functionality updates, but widgets are lagnaippe and we will probably have to pay for that.

C.
 
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