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iPad app pricing

M

MattWylde

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 17, 2009
162
0
I read an article earlier today over at appadvice.com on the price of Pangea's iPad games that are set to be in the app store on iPad launch day. The article says the apps are $9.99 each for the 5 games they are releasing.

I don't know about you guys, but if Apple and devs think that I'm about to drop $500 (minimum for the iPad, whatever version you get) and then pay an additional $10 per app for stupid ass games, they're sorely mistaken. I mean come on, the iWork apps are priced at $9.99 each and carry their weight in gold since it allows you to be productive on the go. But a game?

If this is any indication of the app prices (which I will be watching closely until my 3G iPad arrives), I just might cancel my iPad order. I don't have bottomless pockets.

What do you all think? Is $10 a fair price for an iPad app?
 
iPad versions of apps are going to have to be very well done to get me to upgrade to them.

That seems steep - but i'm not in the market for a ton of new Apps either. The iWorks trio and probably PadNotes (or something similar) are the main ones.

I would upgrade via in-app purchase a variety of the games i have at the right price.

Oh, and i'd pay $9.99 for Peggle Nights should they decide to do that! LOL!!
 
If you consider an App cheesy and not worth $10 then don't buy it. Why would you consider canceling your order?:confused: There are well over a 125,000 iPhone Apps that are cheesy to me and I would not consider but I'm not going to "throw the baby out with the bath water". How about you, did you git rid of your iPhone?
 
In-app upgrades would be sweet! Although, I'm not a developer so I don't know if that is possible.
 
sorry but what you are saying makes no sense. If you don't want the app don't buy it. I mean if you can't afford a $10 app you can't afford the ipad. If you compare that to the psp and ds that is a good price.
 
flyguy206 said:
sorry but what you are saying makes no sense. If you don't want the app don't buy it. I mean if you can't afford a $10 app you can't afford the ipad. If you compare that to the psp and ds that is a good price.
Click to expand...

Well I know that these apps specifically aren't my favorite and I won't be buying them. My question is meant to be more general....Are people willing to spend $10 to re-buy the apps you already have? Is $10 a fair price for any app that is $0.99-$2.99 for the iPhone now? Those are my questions.

I can certainly afford the iPad and $10 apps. I just choose to spend my money wisely. Why waste it?
 
They know that people will be buying apps for their new device as soon as they get it. You can get away with charging whatever you want when there is a limited selection and I'm sure the developers are excited to take advantage of it.
 
MattWylde said:
Well I know that these apps specifically aren't my favorite and I won't be buying them. My question is meant to be more general....Are people willing to spend $10 to re-buy the apps you already have? Is $10 a fair price for any app that is $0.99-$2.99 for the iPhone now? Those are my questions.
Click to expand...

I don't already have any iPad specific Apps and neither do you so you are not re-buying them. If you want to upgrade you have to pay. It is like this with just about all software. Do you get your DVD's upgraded to Blu-rays for free or how about Play Station 2 games to Play Station 3?
 
It is like everyone else has said... if you find value in it, then buy
If you don't, then don't buy the app
Simple as that

The developer will adjust the price based on demand and what the market will bear
 
Julien said:
I don't already have any iPad specific Apps and neither do you so you are not re-buying them. If you want to upgrade you have to pay. It is like this with just about all software. Do you get your DVD's upgraded to Blu-rays for free or how about Play Station 2 games to Play Station 3?
Click to expand...

There is very significant difference in the hardware between PS2 and PS3. The games look nothing alike. I don't think that is really the case with the iPad...yes it is better and bigger, but not in the same degree as the jump between PS2 and PS3. however, it's a good point.
 
MattWylde said:
Well I know that these apps specifically aren't my favorite and I won't be buying them. My question is meant to be more general....Are people willing to spend $10 to re-buy the apps you already have? Is $10 a fair price for any app that is $0.99-$2.99 for the iPhone now? Those are my questions.
Click to expand...

well you can use your iphone apps on the ipad they just won't be as good because they are not going to be native. i think 10 is a fair price
 
I used to regularly spend more than $10 to buy Nintendo DS games. Heck, I used to comb through the clearance bins to find $10 games. Never saw anything less than $10 unless it was a total piece of junk.

As for upgrading, I'll wait for reviews, and if there is upgraded content or gameplay then yes, I'll upgrade. I'm looking forward to SimCity and if they upgrade more than just the graphics, but update the interface for the bigger screen, I will gladly pay $10 for the iPad version.

To me these prices are still bargains. If the developers put a lot of work into the new version, I don't mind paying.
 
first of all, no one says you need to buy all these apps all at once, buy a few ever couple of weeks.

second, I'm personally fine with $9.99 for a good quality app. I plan on only keeping iPad specific apps on my iPad, so I will be re-buying some apps again (not all), and I'm fine with that.

here is a link to an article from 9to5mac that shows more screen shots other other games that will be free and/or as low as $.99 (real checkers). not everything will be high priced.
http://www.9to5mac.com/node/15356

I'm buying:
Enigmo Deluxe ($9.99)
Real Racing HD ($9.99)
Plants vs Zombies (?)
Pages ($9.99)
Real Checkers ($.99)
 
App Store Pricing

SDub90 said:
They know that people will be buying apps for their new device as soon as they get it. You can get away with charging whatever you want when there is a limited selection and I'm sure the developers are excited to take advantage of it.
Click to expand...

When the App Store first opened with the original iPhone, prices hinged around $9.99. Then as time went on and more apps appeared many prices plummeted. I suspect the trend will repeat with iPad apps ;)
 
The screen grabs from the iPad App Store showed prices from 9.99-4.99. I think 4.99 for a decent game fair. I would pay more for say, an iPad optimized version of Final Fantasy or the like.

As a potential iPad app developer I don't know what I would prefer: Sell an app a 100 times for $10 or sell it 1000 times for $1.

-John
http://ipadcorral.com
 
I know I will have no problem paying $5.99 for Flight Control HD. In most cases these games have to be completely redesigned for the UI to make sense on iPad, so I don't really view it as buying the same game, more like buying the sequel.
 
saving107 said:
first of all, no one says you need to buy all these apps all at once, buy a few ever couple of weeks.

second, I'm personally fine with $9.99 for a good quality app. I plan on only keeping iPad specific apps on my iPad, so I will be re-buying some apps again (not all), and I'm fine with that.

here is a link to an article from 9to5mac that shows more screen shots other other games that will be free and/or as low as $.99 (real checkers). not everything will be high priced.
http://www.9to5mac.com/node/15356

I'm buying:
Enigmo Deluxe ($9.99)
Real Racing HD ($9.99)
Plants vs Zombies (?)
Pages ($9.99)
Real Checkers ($.99)
Click to expand...

I will pay for a good quality app. Is there really that much more development necessary for a larger screen? Pop-up menus might be new to the OS, but they are nothing new to the world of programming. I guess that is why I'm thinking some of these apps are way over priced.

Thanks for the link! I hadn't seen that list and it was good to see some lower priced apps. Wingnut, I'm with you! I sure hope that it comes out on launch day since they demo'd at the keynote. That is definitely an app that I would consider to be "quality" and worth paying $10-$15, even though I've already paid the $15 for this year's iPhone app.
 
I would recommend not purchasing any paid applications (except for the iWork apps) for 2-3 weeks after the iPad comes out. Developers know that people will want to try out their new iPads and in the process buy applications for higher than normal prices.

When the App Store first came out a couple years ago, I bought Enigmo for the iPhone for $10. I've seen it for as low as $1 and it is currently $3. Prices will drop as time goes on and the customers get over the new product buzz.
 
jaredririe20 said:
I would recommend not purchasing any paid applications (except for the iWork apps) for 2-3 weeks after the iPad comes out. Developers know that people will want to try out their new iPads and in the process buy applications for higher than normal prices.

When the App Store first came out a couple years ago, I bought Enigmo for the iPhone for $10. I've seen it for as low as $1 and it is currently $3. Prices will drop as time goes on and the customers get over the new product buzz.
Click to expand...

Good call
 
When the App store first came out, games that now go for $1.99 started off at $9.99. I would expect the same thing to happen with the iPad, developers are going to price gouge early on until the "Norms" of App pricing and competition drives them down. I'd imagine most developers will use a "Desktop Grade" excuse. While I expect iPad apps to be a bit more than iPhone counterparts, some of those prices I saw were ridiculous.
 
Squid7085 said:
When the App store first came out, games that now go for $1.99 started off at $9.99. I would expect the same thing to happen with the iPad, developers are going to price gouge early on until the "Norms" of App pricing and competition drives them down. I'd imagine most developers will use a "Desktop Grade" excuse. While I expect iPad apps to be a bit more than iPhone counterparts, some of those prices I saw were ridiculous.
Click to expand...

apps are bigger, and hence they cost more. That makes sense.
 
One of the things that made apps explode in popular culture was the low price of entry. Anyone would try anything for a buck or two. I think the iPhone has set expectations in the marketplace. Aside from iWorks apps or iBooks, I won't pay more than $5 for any app and most will need to be in the $1-$2 range. Free is good too. Of course many of the apps I bought for the iPhone won't be making their way to my iPad as those are all travel related.....planes, trains, subways, restaurants. Don't need that stuff on an iPad. IMHO if app developers get greedy and try to charge $10/app they will bring the whole show to a stop. The extra profit on $10 apps won't cover the reduced number of buyers. As someone else mentioned, the market will set the price. If you don't like the prices, don't buy. That works for me.
 
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