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[Merged] Trial Periods For Apps From The iPhone/iPod Apps Store

iPhone apps - reasonable trial period

  • Total voters
    157
  • Poll closed .
I agree on a week, or two. If you get using the App for a few days, and like it, you're more apt to get hooked and buy it.
I think a Trial is needed because most websites for these new Apps, don't describe their product enough. They tell you just a little bit to try and get you to buy the App, but not enough to show you that features are missing that you may want in the App. A trial would answer most questions in your mind.
 
Shouldnt some apps have trial periods?

I noticed that all the apps are not offering any sort of trail period. This is unusual for downloadable software.
 
PMB said:
i think an hour is enough, but yeah, i want to try em before i buy em
Click to expand...

I tend to agree here. after trying, a few moments was really enough with the simpler apps. (how long is a moment?)

complex ones, should be longer
 
I would like a preview - for me one day would be sufficient. But the phrase "be careful what you wish for" also comes to mind. My guess is that if we had previews, games that are $5 would be $10, etc.

I prefer lower overall prices with no previews (base my decisions on reviews) to previews that lead to higher prices.

I agree with other comments that I probably would not have bought monkeyball if I had previewed it. I actually have gotten better at it, but at first I could not control it at all.
 
This is the same trend as regular software for pc's. At first, no trials, then they discovered they can sell way more with trials. Give it a few weeks. The smart vendors will do it.
 
gadgetmacfreak said:
I would like a preview - for me one day would be sufficient. But the phrase "be careful what you wish for" also comes to mind. My guess is that if we had previews, games that are $5 would be $10, etc.
Click to expand...
Why? I agree with some others, previews will bring in more purchases, not fewer. I mean, if the app is good, obviously. Not sure how that raises prices.
 
JAT said:
Why? I agree with some others, previews will bring in more purchases, not fewer. I mean, if the app is good, obviously. Not sure how that raises prices.
Click to expand...

If the app is good then they probably will bring in more purchases, but they will also be more confident to charge a higher price. With no trial people may not want to pay to try it so the vendor charges a lower price. With a trial, lots of good reviews and high quality on their side they would have good reason to raise the price.

Lets say that it is not a really good app, or to put it more kindly, the app has a small group of people who consider it a diamond in the rough - then they might raise prices to make up for lost revenue.

Those are both reasons why the prices might go up. There are also reasons not to raise the price -- I am just saying that it might happen.
 
In my book higher prices are worth it for a better game. trials would put more pressure on developers to improve their games. which would be good.


gadgetmacfreak said:
I would like a preview - for me one day would be sufficient. But the phrase "be careful what you wish for" also comes to mind. My guess is that if we had previews, games that are $5 would be $10, etc.

I prefer lower overall prices with no previews (base my decisions on reviews) to previews that lead to higher prices.

I agree with other comments that I probably would not have bought monkeyball if I had previewed it. I actually have gotten better at it, but at first I could not control it at all.
Click to expand...
 
why no trial versions

After downloading a $15 weather program (My Weather) only to discover that you are limited to the cities in their database (very limited) and can't add/search via zipcodes or add anywhere out of the country I felt ripped off.

The biggest problem with app store is that they don't have trial versions. All the big windows mobile software sites and companies offer trial versions of their programs, anywhere from a week to a month long, so you can evaluate whether it will meet your demands.

The App store and programmers need to make this a reality. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't want to since it works so well for WM and makes for happy purchasers.
 
I would guess there are no trial versions for exactly the same reasons as last time someone asked why there were no trial versions, only a few days ago..
 
Tallest Skil said:
What was wrong with the free one that Apple gave you?

Reading reviews before purchasing is as close to demos as we'll get, I'm afraid.
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I read the reviews. None of them indicated this limitation.

The stock app is incredibly lame - highs and lows
It oesn't give you radar, % chance of precip, humidity, wind or tell you if it's going to rain at 2pm or 10pm.
 
There are "demo" versions of software. They are called Lite Versions. They are basically slimmed down version of an app to give you a good example of what the app is.

Here's an article

We need to pressure the developers into making more of these.
 
littlewaywelt said:
After downloading a $15 weather program (My Weather) only to discover that you are limited to the cities in their database (very limited) and can't add/search via zipcodes or add anywhere out of the country I felt ripped off.

The biggest problem with app store is that they don't have trial versions. All the big windows mobile software sites and companies offer trial versions of their programs, anywhere from a week to a month long, so you can evaluate whether it will meet your demands.

The App store and programmers need to make this a reality. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't want to since it works so well for WM and makes for happy purchasers.
Click to expand...

There's also a free version of WeatherBug that works rather nicely
 
I believe Apple isn't really allowing the timed DRM (like they do for rentals).

But of course developers could create Lite versions like Twitter did.
 
I think I've bought just one app, and it was $.99. However, once downloaded I noticed it's functionally was just out of whack. The company was even aware and promised fixes/upgrades soon, but the time to be informed of this is not after the purchase.

Sure, one could do some Googling/research etc, on each app, but that's a little ridiculous. This information should be readily available on the product page of each app and it should be specific.

It cost me a buck to find this out, others aren't so fortunate. Had it been more, I'da have to open a can. ;)
 
I really hope Apple comes up with something soon because there are a few apps that I would like to try out so that I can decide what I want to buy. I am willing to pay good money for good software but I really need to be able to try it to know.
 
TomyDingo said:
Me too! I've seen people rate one app a 1-star and say "THE 2.0 SOFTWARE ISN'T OUT YET FOR MY IPOD TOUCH, FU APPLE!"
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Yeh, I think you shouldn't be about to leave a review unless you downloaded it or bought it. Some of those comment pages read like a forum.
 
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