Stats: 99 cent apps aren't selling any better

I'm a developer with two preschool education apps. One is 99 cents and one is $1.99. Some days they have the same amount of downloads but most days the 99 cent app have 30 to 50 percent more downloads.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the way the graph was shown and interpreted was somewhat misleading...

First of all, it'd be nice to bet a better degree of granularity in the $1+ category, because that in of itself would say a lot. For example, are a good chunk of the more popular apps in that category in the $1-$2.50 range or what?

Secondly, the article says "Why should a 99 cent app sell better than an app of equal usability that costs $1.99? It shouldn't, and according to this data, it doesn't.". The answer is, of course it should! If the two apps have equal useability, then the 99 cent app is far better value for money! It would be silly to pay double the price for something that does the same job. And the data in the chart doesn't even say what the author purports it to say - the x-axis does not measure useability, it measures popularity!

Inconsistent interpretation of the facts at hand, it seems to me...

Well, speaking just for myself - $.99 is a psychological price barrier where it's a easy decision to make - if the review seems decent, then I'm willing to take a shot - if it's dumb like iChalky, oh well, no biggie but at $1.99 even though it's only a buck more is a bigger psychological barrier - like why buy the bigger cup size where there are free refills? ... but if it's something I really want like centipede, $4.99 was nothing ... but that is also smart pricing, at $9.99, I would've thought - do I really want to pay $10 bucks for 30 year old technology (though technically there are a few newer versions - BTW, Centipede is great - the touchscreen bubble button works as well as the trackball!) ... same with business apps ... I would have no problem paying $9.99 or more for a decent list app but of course, want a $.99 demo version first.

Wow, I can already see the slippery slope the Apps Store is heading down. I just got done paying for an iPhone on a 3 year contract and honestly the last thing I feel like doing is spending $10+ on an App.

What strikes me as totally odd is that if you're a developer (lets be honest that most of these App developers are just doing this in their free time for fun, or to make a few extra bucks), you would be complaining about not being able to sell an App for more than $0.99.

Think about, there are a LOT of iPhone users out there, and if you happen to build an App that gets a million downloads....well, I can guarantee you that it's covered your expenses in building it.

Regardless, I'm already pretty fed up with the Apps store. It's like a free-for-all for pricing. One day an App will be $1.99, the next, $5.99. There is no money back guarantee or customer price protection. There are more and more free Apps with banner Ads, and splash screens.

The Apps store is starting to go the way of all outdated internet business practice. Instead of offering an App for a reasonable cost (consistently), and making your millions on large volumes, they're trying to find a way to squeeze even more cash out of customers already paying "Apple Tax".

For me, I'll stick to free or $1. I simply can't justify any more than that and I'm not about to start paying off the shelf software prices for an iPhone App.

The solution is obvious: Apple needs to allow $0.49 and $1.49 apps.

@2 :Agreed. Lets see a graph of Free/99c/$5/$10 and then see who pays what!
Yes, i think this is the right categorization of paid apps. May be the minimum paid app should be priced $2, because paying $1 is more of a hassle than expense.
There are many "tourist" devs who are creating imbalance by setting arbitrary prices for a lot of junk. But once they are gone, the serious devs should focus on quality and set reasonable prices. I don't mind paying $5 for something useful because that is a tenth of the monthly phone bill.
Devs should focus on what Apple does best : improve the quality of the apps, keep the prices same.
Read more at http://iphonedev.in

Interesting post. But I think it still backs up the argument of the developers since they, according to this, wouldn't loose sales with pricier apps and would have a greater profit margin for improving.

I can tell you what influences App sales more than the price--it is the position on the store. If you are not seen in either the top 25, what's new or what is hot you will suffer. I'd love to see graphs related to that.

Further since both the iTunes client on the phone and on the desktop insists on listing products by popularity of download by default people will not be willing to do page through pages of apps to find something new and wonderful. I have been promoting the idea of an end-cap where all products with a certain start rating (3?) get cycled in / out of the end-cap. This way everything gets a chance to be seen. That is what is killing us in my view. The AppStore's design prompts developers to make quick/dirty apps and not update old ones.

So the cycle is more like this--you're new--you are hot for a while until something else new comes along. A tip of the hat from a review site that has a lot of traffic will bring you back to the top of a category but only for a while. Further the AppStore is far from bug free. Jetset was at the top of the business category until JetSet disappeared from the iPhone AppStore (but still showing up on the desktop client) for a month. It took Apple a month to resolve the issue. The rankings sank and I haven't recovered. Perhaps with a tip of the hat with 1.2 of Jetset that is coming out soon?

The issue is not the pricing in my opinion but the position and how Apple promotes Apps on the store. People only look to the popular and forget the rest.

I think Apple is really trying to get things to work right and satisfy the customers and the developers. I think they have a hard road ahead of them--still they have the best store out there on the best platform out there. Hard for me to be to critical!

-BriteMac / Maker of JetSet Expeenses

This is a cross-sectional analysis. It is meaningless because it does not look at what happens to apps when their price goes down. When developers price their apps at >$1 they anticipate that their app offers greater value that those prices at $0.99. My feeling is that most of the apps in the app store should be free because they don't offer much value. The ones that cost money offer more value and are worth the price.

I don't buy any apps. If it isn't free, I don't use it. I don't see the point in purchasing something that I can only use on my Apple iPhone or iPod Touch.

The only App I would consider spending up to $10 on, would be one that can record all my phone calls without that pesky "This call is being recorded" message.

Yeah, yeah, I know privacy rules. In PA, only 1 party needs to know and I will mostly only use it when I call a customer service line and they record you also.

But, that's it. The same thing with ringtones - Free or I live without it.