Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Devs quickly move to new models after in-app purchase change
It was just yesterday that Apple announced they would allow free apps to enable in-app purchases, and developers are already jumping on the "get the app for free, buy the content later" business model as quickly as they can. ngmoco came out swinging, as Touch Arcade reports, with both a free intro version of Rolando 2 out for purchase, with later chapters of the game as add-ons. They've also been working on a shooter called Eliminate, and we're now told that title will be free as well, with extra content to buy later. The creators of Urban Rivals, an app that is based on a virtual trading card game, have let us know that they too plan to go the free-with-microtransactions model as soon as their app is released, and though we haven't actually heard from Tapulous, Andrew Lacy told us outright that the only reason Tap Tap Revenge 3 had a 99 cent price tag on it was because of Apple's limitation, so we'll expect that app to go free as soon as it can.
Clearly, there's a drive for this model on the developer side, but the question will be just how much this echoes with consumers -- certainly the "download a trial, buy more later" model has worked well on other platforms, so we can expect it to work here on the App Store as well. But on the other hand, just as when the App Store first opened for business, it's a very "wild west" moment -- everybody and their brother is offering up in-app transactions, and they're all of varying prices and quality.
My guess is that we'll see a few "hits" -- a few free apps that everybody buys content for (Tap Tap Revenge 3 is a good guess; considering that because you know most of those songs, there's much less guessing on what the quality of the transactions will give you). At the same time, there will likely be apps that everyone agrees aren't worth the in-app purchase (it's the old story of "horse armor" when Xbox Live started doing microtransactions). Until we find a good balance, where quality meets price, odds are that it'll be tough for consumers to know just what's worth it, and thus tough for developers to convince them that their content is.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jordan said 12:21PM on 10-17-2009
I believe this was just a way for Apple to increase their download count. Now many apps that would otherwise be paid apps will be free, only prompting people to buy them once the run the app. This will prompt users to download more apps because as we all know people are going to download anything if it's free. Since Apple is huge on their download count, which nobody except for devs could care the least bit about, they see this as a way to make their app store model look more lucrative. This won't be the case, as many people will instantly delete the app when asked to pay money for it.
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puhsitch said 1:33PM on 10-17-2009
Call me crazy, but I think Apple's motivation was based more in dollar signs than download counts. People are always more likely to throw down cash for something once they've had a chance to try it out.
Flunky Carter said 10:28PM on 10-17-2009
You guys know nothing, absolutely nothing about how the iPhone app store works or else you wouldn't be talking this dribble. I'm korean war veteran and you young punks disgust me with your sass talk.
[Comment edited: Please don't shout with all caps.]
Scott Kveton said 12:33PM on 10-17-2009
There are all sorts of implications for in app being allowed for free apps.
10 MB limit - Devs can now get their apps under 10MB now much more easily. This allows them to take advantage of users downloading over the cell networks and not wi-fi. They can offer more content via in app purchase and make up the difference.
Rankings - It will be curious to see how Apple changes the rankings over time. "Top Paid" and "Top Free" just don't really don't make sense anymore with this model. Will they make "Top Freemium" or something equivalent?
Infrastructure - Developers have to deal with content delivery and updates to that content. Apple handles the transaction in the normal fashion and takes their 30% but then they leave it up to the developers to actually get the content to the iPhone. What if there is a bug in the content? The developer has to deal with making sure the user is notified of the update and then initiate the update.
Piracy - There has been a lot of talk about how this may help fight piracy but I think the numbers will tell a different story. If you look at Pinch's story about piracy from a few weeks ago (the data is a little old):
http://www.pinchmedia.com/blog/piracy-in-the-app-store-from-360idev/
You see that the top three countries with the highest number of jailbroken phones you see that those countries now all have an iTunes app store as of 10/6/2009.
Developers can require that the app verify content on startup of the app but that will require it to be connected to the network. I don't think many users will appreciate that but it remains to be seen.
As a shameless plug, Urban Airship provides services for developers that help you get up-and-running with in app purchase quickly and deals with some of the issues mentioned above.
http://urbanairship.com
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kmcgrady90 said 2:08PM on 10-17-2009
They will probably replace Top Paid with Top Grossing as I think Top Grossing would probably include the in app purchases. But they need to do that immediately as within the next month many of the top paid apps may have moved to this new model.
Brian Akaka said 5:00PM on 10-19-2009
Disagree about the 10MB comment. All additional In-app purchase content has to be bundled with the original free version. It becomes unlocked when the consumer buys it, but it's not downloaded.
Check out the new Rolando 2, free with in-app-purchases, it's 69 MB, versus the original FULL Rolando 2 that is only 56 MB.
So apps are going to get larger, not smaller.
Scott Kveton said 12:37PM on 10-19-2009
@Brian - Its not required that in app purchased content be bundled with the app. Developers can chose to deliver the content to the device after the in app purchase transaction takes place.
It sounds like the app you're talking about chose to bundle that content in and unlock it instead of dealing with the infrastructure needed to deliver it to the device. This increased the size of that app and considering its size, it probably wasn't going to be able to get under 10MB anyways.
samu said 1:14PM on 10-17-2009
Interesting screenshot. "One Night Stand Glow", eh? I demand that this be 17+ rated immediately!
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ryemac said 1:28PM on 10-17-2009
NightSand has had in-app purchases for weeks. Anyone who jumps on it now is going to have to submit a new binary and wait 2 weeks for Apple to approve it.
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AndreyCo said 1:45PM on 10-17-2009
In App purchases are great for developers, but bad for consumers. Free apps are no longer free, as developers can simply place an in-app purchase along with the advertisements already plastered all over free apps. When Apple announced that FREE apps will remain completely FREE, I was glad to see they put some thought behind it. After thousands of nagging developers, they caved. It's a sad day.
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David said 2:08PM on 10-17-2009
I couldn't agree more, welcome to the flood of greed driven developers as they nickel and dime their customers to death!
kmcgrady90 said 2:12PM on 10-17-2009
@David I don't think you can really call iPhone Devs greedy. It is the only gaming platform where games like Tiger Woods and Need For Speed cost $9.99.
@AndreyCo I disagree that this move is bad for consumers. It is bad for cheap/greedy consumers but for consumers who understand that many devs work extremely hard on their applications it is a good move. Devs will offer LITE apps without ads (most probably. I have removed the adds from my in app purchase apps) and they will also probably offer more features in the free version so that the consumer gets an even better 'demo' of the app before purchasing the extra content.
Shane said 2:44PM on 10-17-2009
This model is great. BUT, I like the lack of ads in TTR3. If TTR3 goes free, it wont bug me that I spent a dollar on it. Its gonna bug me that they are gonna have ads in it again. I would of paid a dollar or two to have TTR2 have no ads. All of my free apps with ads in them...I'd gladly pay a dollar to have a no ads version.
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mikehild said 4:20PM on 10-17-2009
I think it's likely that TTR3 would still be ad free. They wouldn't make any money off the app itself, but I'm sure they'll more than make up for that with their in-app purchases. Especially since dropping the price to free would greatly increase the number of people who download it, thus increasing the chance of in-app purchases occuring.
IanHarvie said 6:10PM on 10-17-2009
ANY developer that has both ads and micro charges in their games will have the app removed and a bad review on my phone.
God forbid you try and nickel n dime me. I have a jailbroken phone with absolutely 0 pirated games/apps on it. I've probably spent £200 - £300 on apps since I bought it I do know where to find them, and if the majority of developers start doing an XBL, I WILL go looking for them.
I'll pay over the odds to remove adverts from a game / app. I'll pay sweet fvck all for content that should have been in the paid game from the beginning.
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spyker said 7:56PM on 10-17-2009
Boxcar is also free, but I think the price for extra services was raised.
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Momus said 8:08PM on 10-17-2009
More like The Unofficial iPhone Weblog.
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Nick said 12:56PM on 10-18-2009
The Unofficial iPhone Weblog That Sometimes Talks About Macs
Cam said 12:00AM on 10-20-2009
The Unofficial iPhone Weblog That Posts Semi-frequently About Apple and Loves Steve Jobs Too Much.
TUIWTPSAALSJTM
Kane Dijkman said 4:10AM on 10-18-2009
This only works if all your customers are on 3.0+ (or your app requires 3.0 features). If you want to reach all the Touch users on 2.2.1 you still have to have a Pay and a Lite version. If you have two versions and the lite one has in app purchasing to unlock the Pay features your product differentiation gets messed up.
Sadly, until Apple makes 3.0 free for touch users (most of which are not upgrading) this is of no benefit.
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