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Is average price of an app $4.99 now?

Cod3rror

Cod3rror

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 18, 2010
1,818
167
Is it me are the prices slowly creeping up on apps?

At first most apps were $0.99, but now it's pretty hard to come by that price, if it is $0.99, then it'll have minimum functionality and will have in-app purchases to make for that price and then some.

Some developers also charge a ridiculous resolution charge, for the iPad and even more for the OS X version... that is complete nonsense.

Finally, are developers going to release new version of their apps with iOS 8's release and make users re-purchase apps, like they did with iOS 7?
 
Porting an app accross multiple devices requires much more work than changing the resolution.

As far as charging for ios8 updates, while there won't be big redisigns to apps this year, there will be a lot of work to implement the hugely expanded developer tools. It's a whole new playground for developers this year.

And if developers want to charge us a small price for that work, then so be it.
 
For starters the apps of today are not developed by 1 or 2 people. Entire studios get involved in the production so a price increase is naturally.

Secondly, Just because you paid for an app once doesn't entitle you to free upgrades for life. Especially if its a new version of iOS.
 
99 cents a year is not that bad.. or even 4.99. Even for multiple apps. Developing isn't easy at all. I will gladly pay it to have my app updated consistently throughout the year than to have one forgotten about and never updated. (Sonic 4)
 
It wouldn't surprise me if the average price paid for all non-100% free apps is $4.99 (including all in-app purchases). But the most common "sticker price" of paid apps is probably Free.
 
Stuke00 said:
99 cents a year is not that bad.. or even 4.99. Even for multiple apps. Developing isn't easy at all. I will gladly pay it to have my app updated consistently throughout the year than to have one forgotten about and never updated. (Sonic 4)
Click to expand...

So if you have 50 apps, you'd be OK with paying $250 for apps annually?

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Stuke00 said:
99 cents a year is not that bad.. or even 4.99. Even for multiple apps. Developing isn't easy at all. I will gladly pay it to have my app updated consistently throughout the year than to have one forgotten about and never updated. (Sonic 4)
Click to expand...

Would you be willing to pay $10 or $15, per app, for all your apps?
 
Cod3rror said:
So if you have 50 apps, you'd be OK with paying $250 for apps annually?
Click to expand...

That's not a fair number you're throwing out there. I don't know anyone who has a total of 50 paid apps on their iphone. Heck, if I installed every game I paid for on my device I'd barely have like 30 tops.
 
Armen said:
That's not a fair number you're throwing out there. I don't know anyone who has a total of 50 paid apps on their iphone. Heck, if I installed every game I paid for on my device I'd barely have like 30 tops.
Click to expand...

Alright, let's say 20 apps. $100, is that OK?

Also consider this: All your past purchased apps, will need to be re-bought, cause there is a new version.
 
I have no problem paying $4.99 for an app as long as it meets the devs description and provides the functionality I need. The problem is that's often not the case. Apple really needs to implement a trial system where an app can be downloaded for free and is fully functional for a set period of time. Once that period ends it can be unlocked via an in app purchase. Even if that time period is an hour for downloads like games.
 
Cod3rror said:
Alright, let's say 20 apps. $100, is that OK?

Also consider this: All your past purchased apps, will need to be re-bought, cause there is a new version.
Click to expand...

You also have to take into consideration how old the app is. Not everyone forks out $100 in 1 year for apps. Some of the apps I paid for a few years ago are no longer even available for me to upgrade.
 
What ever happened to the good old days went I spent some $500 a year on on about dozen copy protected computer games?
 
Cod3rror said:
Alright, let's say 20 apps. $100, is that OK?
Click to expand...

I will pay whatever the price is for an app I need. I will also buy as many apps as I need. If I make the subjective determination that the price of an app is too much then I won't buy it. But that's not based on the cost of the app alone.
 
I have a iPad 3 32gb for school and I have about 75 apps on it. A lot of them were around $5-$20 per app. I paid for Pages/Keynote/Numbers for $9.99 each, then a day later they were all free. The iPad is required for my school and they require all apps and software to be up to date. I would be paying close to $1000 a year to update all my apps. Even though I switched to all Apple products, I think if they start making us pay for app updates, I might actually switch to Android.

*shiver*
 
I don't often buy paid apps. But I went to the App Store just now to check it out. OP is right. Not many apps are 99¢ with out in app purchases. And the iPad thing is crazy. I don't think there should ever be an iPhone app and an iPad app of the same damn thing. It should be a universal app.
 
It never ceases to amaze me how people think they're entitled to lifetime updates just because they bought an app. In this scenario developers only make money but getting new customers, and there is a finite number of those. Imagine if your company thought you should keep working without pay you any more. Same concept. So for apps which are regularly updated we can either pay a small amount each time we upgrade or face a much larger upfront cost which accurately reflects the true cost of developing an app with a life cycle of several years.
 
I have bought $0.99 apps that don't have IAP. Some apps are universal, some are not. I am perfectly fine with that, as long as the price is reasonable, as in that buying both won't be more than $10.

Some developers won't charge for updates, some will. That's not something as consumers we should be complaining about. You're either going to buy the upgrade, or you're giving some other developer the same money, so what's the point?
 
dcp10 said:
It never ceases to amaze me how people think they're entitled to lifetime updates just because they bought an app. In this scenario developers only make money but getting new customers, and there is a finite number of those. Imagine if your company thought you should keep working without pay you any more. Same concept. So for apps which are regularly updated we can either pay a small amount each time we upgrade or face a much larger upfront cost which accurately reflects the true cost of developing an app with a life cycle of several years.
Click to expand...

It's not self-entitlement. It's simply keeping the companies in check, if you don't, you're going to end up with same mess that is video game industry and their DLCs because they'll be looking for new ways to rip people off and keep increasing prices, just look at what's happening with pay-to-win games on mobile platforms, they're in the news everyday... then guess what's going to happen? Rampant piracy.

I understand that developers have to release new paid version from time to time, but every year? That's ridiculous.

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braddick said:
Patently and blatantly false.
Click to expand...

No, it is not. If it becomes the norm, everytime you'll remember that you bought some app and you want to use it, you'll have to pay for it again.
 
I can live with paid upgrades, but I do not like apps rhat are sold for 19,99 and then dropped and the new version costs 19,99 and you decide whether you need to purchase it again. I have voted no for such behavior.
 
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