Why iOS apps are more expensive than Android apps?

[John Mcgregor]

Nope. But thanks for playing.

Yep, but thanks for playing.

 

[John Mcgregor]

As much as you wish that were true, it isn't. But it's always nice to dream of unicorns and fluffy clouds.

You can dream about what you want, but i will stay in real world where there are more apps in general and more high quality apps on iOS platform compared to Android.

 

[hajime]

I travel sometimes.

Does the same app cost differently depending on the country where I use the App Store to purchase the item?

I bought the iPhone 6s Plus in Hong Kong. Whenever I visit the App Store, especially under Featured and sometimes in Top Charts, I see lots of App with Chinese characters. Does the App Store shows apps depending on the location of the iPhone? If I want to see more apps related to Japan or for Japanese users, do I have to visit the App Store while in Japan? Is there a way to do it while in other country?

I am checking the App Store. A message shows up asking if I want to use the location information to search for related App. Not sure what it actually mean.

 

[\-V-/]

Yep, but thanks for playing.

Nope, but thanks for playing.

You can dream about what you want, but i will stay in real world where there are more apps in general and more high quality apps on iOS platform compared to Android.

The discussion wasn't the amount of apps, but why the same apps are different prices. Quality isn't the reason which has already been pointed out. I use apps on both platforms (I have a 6S as well as a Nexus 6P) and there isn't some magical degradation in quality on Android. Oftentimes there are even more features on Android because there is greater access to the system as opposed to being walled off in the iOS environment. Do some apps end up being better on iOS? Of course. But blindly stating all apps are higher quality cuz they're on iOS is just silly.

 

[Jinzen]

I've spent probably a $200-300 on apps in my Apple ID account.

I've spent about $25 in my Google Play Store Account.

I don't pirate in either case. In some cases, the apps are cross platform so I benefit but otherwise, it definitely has to do with games as well. There are great games that run really well on iOS, but those same games aren't even worth playing on Android (performance, kills battery etc).

 

[tbayrgs]

Smaller marketshare and volume so developers have to make up with higher prices on iOS. Another factor is Apple takes a bigger 30% cut of every app purchase.

Incorrect. Quoted directly from the Google Play Developer site:

Transaction fees
For applications and in-app products that you sell on Google Play, the transaction fee is equivalent to 30% of the price.

You receive 70% of the payment. The remaining 30% goes to the distribution partner and operating fees.

As for the second part of your post:

Apple doesn't publish app download #'s like Google but we can still look at review #'s to get an idea. Compare, for example, the popular Pocket Casts. On iOS it has 1,274 reviews vs Android with 35,828 reviews. That's why developers prefer Android and why Android has better app selection and quality that's not different from software companies targetting the bigger Windows narketshare before OS X. For example, the best Reddit app for iOS, Alien Blue, is considered average compared to the many for Android such as Relay for Reddit, Sync for Reddit, Reddit is Fun, etc.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-casts/id414834813?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts

Personally, I prefer Podcast Addict but it's not available on iOS.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bambuna.podcastaddict

First flaw with this choice--iOS includes a Podcast app that already syncs across the Apple ecosystem--most people don't consider downloading a third party solution as is required on Android because they don't need to.

Go take a look as some of the most popular and critically praised paid productivity apps on iOS and then go look for them on the Play Store--apps like Fantastical, Things, Notability, any of the apps from the Omni Group (apps that cost between $20-50), Camera+ just to name a few. None of them are on Android. Head on over to Evernote's (one of the most popular note apps on any platform) website and take a look at their App Center--a collection of apps they've established partnerships with. Sort first by Android and then by iPhone apps--guess which one more than double the other?

The 2nd most popular PAID photography app presently on iOS is 1 Second Everyday--costs $2.99. On Android, it's a free app.

 

[Truefan31]

Lets just be honest here overall the app quality is better on iOS especially tablet apps. There are other things where android shines but overall App Store still favors iOS

 

[throAU]

Over all, it's because most Android users aren't willing to spend as much money.

There is that...

It may have something to do with the developer programmer pricing that apple charge to sell apps via the app store.

To a degree. Though the developer program cost is not really a big thing (i'm a hobby developer who hasn't released anything, i just build the dev program cost into the cost of my device(s)), more likely is the time and effort spent to get the app through the vetting process and into the store in the first place.

This is a plus and a minus - you end up with less total malicious garbage in the store, but developers need to put in a bit more effort to get their app out there.

As an end user i think this is an acceptable trade-off - i'd rather pay more for a more stringent vetting process and less likelihood of malware, YMMV.

 

[Robisan]

Apple's business model is to entrap, exploit and grift the high disposable income rube market. App developers are just doing their part shearing the penned sheep.

 

[\-V-/]

Lets just be honest here overall the app quality is better on iOS especially tablet apps. There are other things where android shines but overall App Store still favors iOS

That's being dishonest, lol. On phones the apps are usually just as good and sometimes better than iOS. Sometimes the apps are better on iOS, just depends on how kind the developer is. The app ecosystem for Android on tablets is awful though, I agree.

 

[throAU]

That's being dishonest, lol. On phones the apps are usually just as good and sometimes better than iOS. Sometimes the apps are better on iOS, just depends on how kind the developer is. The app ecosystem for Android on tablets is awful though, I agree.

I've used both and this is not my experience.

The apps I played with in the few weeks I had a HTC One had horrible scaling issues (i.e., UI did not use the screen fully in various places in the weather app i installed, and a couple of other apps) and more UI lag.

No i didn't do a huge sampling of apps, but "mission critical" the apps i found to replace the stuff i use on iPhone were generally not as good.

 

[\-V-/]

I've used both and this is not my experience.

The apps I played with in the few weeks I had a HTC One had horrible scaling issues and more UI lag.

No i didn't do a huge sampling of apps, but "mission critical" the apps i found to replace the stuff i use on iPhone were generally not as good.

I haven't had any lag or stuttering in apps on my 6P except for crappy third-party apps that haven't been updated in a year. Most "mission critical" apps I use have already been updated for Android Marshmallow and are buttery smooth. And how long ago did you have that HTC One and what was it running?

 

[Lloydbm41]

I'm sure you can, but the fact is you can find more apps that are high quality on iOS than on Android since it is very hard to monetize it most devs just don't bother with Android. Stats are more than clear on this one.

Really? I'd like to see your personal data and compare it to say, this one:
http://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/how-do-android-apps-compare-with-ios-apps.html/?a=viewall

 

[Lloydbm41]

I haven't had any lag or stuttering in apps on my 6P except for crappy third-party apps that haven't been updated in a year. Most "mission critical" apps I use have already been updated for Android Marshmallow and are buttery smooth. And how long ago did you have that HTC One and what was it running?

Notice he left off the "M7" from 2013 when he wrote that.

 

[John Mcgregor]

Really? I'd like to see your personal data and compare it to say, this one:
http://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/how-do-android-apps-compare-with-ios-apps.html/?a=viewall

Really. What planet are you from?

 

[Shanghaichica]

Higher quality.

This is pretty much the truth of the matter.

 

[John Mcgregor]

This is pretty much the truth of the matter.

Well not everyone can see that apparently.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Not really ..


That would only be applicable if pricing was the same throughout the world. It isn't.

An app on the USA playstore is priced differently to one on the Russian of Indian playstore, therefore pricing has already been adjusted to make up for regional demographics, economics, currencies and average salaries...

So the pricing model in one territory has no correlation to others, for the same reason your groceries, clothes, furniture and electronics all cost different prices in different parts of the world. The app store pricing is not set globally but regionally.







The real cause is Piracy. The elephant in the Android room.

The simple truth is that there is a perception for most users these days that media content is somehow a right and theirs to own. That they have a right to it without actually paying for it...

With Android OS's easy ability to sideload apps from anywhere and an abundance of alternative APK sources readily available, piracy is incredibly easy on Android. It's very easy to never have to pay for any app if you don't want to without doing a whole lot about it. With IOS unless jailbroken, piracy is much harder to circumvent.

The fact is as many app developers have already come forward and testified publicly to the agrin of some, that the amount of piracy of their apps on the Android platform is off the scale compared to iOS, the only way they can combat it is to change the way they monetize their apps, and thus has meant a shift to free or reduced price apps but with either more in-app advertising with optional purchase to remove ads, or other in all purchases to supplement the game.

This is why apps on iOS are higher quality. Developers spend their time producing high quality apps for iOS because they know that they will get a return for their labour. On android there is less motivation to produce high quality apps because android users are not going to pay the same price as iOS users and many will just side load a pirated version of the app.

 

[MRU]

We must also remember though that there are some Android apps that cost more than their iOS counterparts.

For example take a look at a couple of big game titles here that are not 'freemium'.

Limbo for example is €4.99 iOS here, €5.39 Playstore. Scribblenauts Unlimited is €4.99 iOS and €5.62 on the Playstore.

So again its a case that iOS version isn't always the greater priced version.

Swings & roundabouts.

 

[mrex]

I've spent probably a $200-300 on apps in my Apple ID account. I've spent about $25 in my Google Play Store Account.

I don't pirate in either case. In some cases, the apps are cross platform so I benefit but otherwise, it definitely has to do with games as well. There are great games that run really well on iOS, but those same games aren't even worth playing on Android (performance, kills battery etc).

have you some paid apps downloaded to ios and android? could you tell me which paid apps those are and not doing well on android but great on ios? if they are interesting apps im going to try them in both platform. i need to see it on my own eyes that android version sucks because my experience is that same paid apps on both platform are about equal.

and it is quite hard to believe that developers would publish crappy paid apps on Playstore while ios is working well. why would they harm their own reputation like that? there might be some minor things like i couldnt add as many layers on PSTouch on ios than i was able to do on android. (maybe it was restricted on ios because of the small amount of ram ios devices had)

 

[ozaz]

The discussion wasn't the amount of apps, but why the same apps are different prices.

Actually, the OP stated earlier in the thread that he/she was not specifically referring to difference in cost of the same app on each platform, but seems to be speaking in more general terms...

I have not compared the iOS and Android version of the same app. Just my experience of using PlayStore for years and recent checking of the apps solid in App Store.

Unless I've missed something, the only specific example offered in this thread of the same app on each platform has the Play Store version priced higher...

We must also remember though that there are some Android apps that cost more than their iOS counterparts.

For example take a look at a couple of big game titles here that are not 'freemium'.

Limbo for example is €4.99 iOS here, €5.39 Playstore. Scribblenauts Unlimited is €4.99 iOS and €5.62 on the Playstore.

So again its a case that iOS version isn't always the greater priced version.

Swings & roundabouts.

 

[Abazigal]

Hello, just switched from Android device to iPhone. I noticed that apps I found in App Store are more expensive than apps in Play Store. How come?

Care to share some example of those apps? Might help in figuring out the motivation of the developers.

For example, I believe Implosion is a $10 game on iOS upfront, but on Android, it is a free game with the option to unlock the full version with an IAP of $10 (I believe this is done so the buyer has the opportunity to test the game on his Android device and is sure that it runs properly before committing). Not sure if it impacts the buyer's final decision to purchase the game though, but I can see business models being different on the two platforms.

 

[weckart]

Have you also noticed that iPhones are more expensive than their Android equivalents? Same reason applies: People are prepared to pay more. Simple as that.

If people voted with their wallets, prices would fall. No sign of that either with the hardware or the software in the short term at least, so you either pay up or do without.

 

[MRU]

Have you also noticed that iPhones are more expensive than their Android equivalents? Same reason applies: People are prepared to pay more. Simple as that.

If people voted with their wallets, prices would fall. No sign of that either with the hardware or the software in the short term at least, so you either pay up or do without.

It's not as simple and there are plenty of flagship android devices released that are as expensive as Apple's (S6 Edge retailed on release at a RRP higher than iPhone 6) and likewise there are many apps on the play store that are more expensive than the iOS version.

 

[weckart]

It's not as simple and there are plenty of flagship android devices released that are as expensive as Apple's (S6 Edge retailed on release at a RRP higher than iPhone 6) and likewise there are many apps on the play store that are more expensive than the iOS version.

Did you notice that the prices of those flagship devices have been increasing over the years to match Apple's. Samsung et al have learnt their lesson. Giffen goods in action.