[tonycortes]

He may be one of the top developers out there, but he really needs to revisit economics, all I read was whining.

Fact is, the market works that way, and a good app will always sell, especially the most at it's true market price...

Maybe he expects high profits in the short run, if he does he needs to shift to a long run attitude.

[blazingangel1986]

i rest my case, its all about seeing for yourself if the app is worth it that 5,000 app that apple let into the app store is a prime example of the non sense they want push

[salayyad]

i paid 32.99 for an and 15.99 and thats because they had a free demo available that i enjoyed of each...if ur gonna make a quality that u wanna charge 5 or 10 bucks for, put out a demo version so people know what they are getting.. im toying with orb demo now and should be making a purchase soon.

[bruinsrme]

I scan App Shopper: iPhone Apps, Deals and Discovery every day.
There just isn't that much out there that I would be willing to pay more than a buck for.
Some of the best apps I have were free. Then again if they were $5 i wouldn't have them.
maybe this developer needs to focus a $30 tip calculator.
I am willing to risk a $1.04 to test out an app. I am not willing to spend more than $2 on something I am not sure I am going to like or really need.
There seems to be a pretty good market for apps on the jailbreak side. maybe this developer needs to look to the darkside to the jailbroken community. I have purchased several programs that require the jailbreak

[domenicp]

There are many quality apps out there for $10 or more, and people do buy them because they are good... If its quality, people will buy it. Put out a demo version of your app to give people a taste. If its worth it, we will buy it. If your app is no better than a 99 cent version, then we'll buy the 99 cent version.

[sziklassy]

Originally Posted by 461am

^but beejive is an established brand. people already knew to expect excellence. Would you be willing to bust out 16 bucks on an untested product?

I am betting many people never heard of beejive before it came to the appstore, I know I didn't. Even so, do what they did. They got "established" somehow

[Rota]

Originally Posted by sziklassy

I am betting many people never heard of beejive before it came to the appstore, I know I didn't. Even so, do what they did. They got "established" somehow

Beejive is very well established in making instant messaging apps for phones. The most popular one before the iPhone version came out was the one they make for Blackberries.

[Grassmasta]

LOLOLOLOL

This guys logic is not concurrent with reality. Lets analyze shall we:

The reason products and technology get better is because of competition (i.e. sega genesis vs. super nintendo, microsoft vs. apple, etc.). Without competition, there is no reason for a product to get better because it can and would maintain a stagnant status quo (i.e. East German cars before the Berlin Wall fell). This is also one of the reason why monopolies are illegal, because they hinder the natural series of progression that competition offers.

Now, this guy is saying that the reason why he isnt able to develop better apps is because his competition sells apps for cheaper, thus he isnt making money...That makes no sense in terms of progression towards better applications. If he made more money, sure he could spend more time developing a stable app, but it wouldnt increase the quailty of his ideas.

Also, selling things for cheaper than the competition is just how business works (When I was a kid, I used to go around and ask my neighbors how much their lawn was getting mowed for. If it was 20 bucks, then I'd do it for 15).

Rant Over

[ksiphone]

the lite versions of apps are the way to go in my opinion. limited features for free. full functionality with a fee. i also think this person is missing the idea of upgrades. not updates to fix bugs, but upgrades to new feature sets. the gaming industry is a prime example. how many people bought halo3? there are a hundred first person shooter style games but halo created a following with a quality product (a lot of hype) and subsequent worth while sequels.

start cheap, build a client base...

[him121213]

i think that if the app that will change the iphone forever is developed then people will buy it
but on the other hand you should use marketing stratagies including:

-start at a low price until you get noticed and gradually raise the price

-create a lite version so people can get a little taste but not have to pay

-make video demo on youtube and put a link in the description

-include many screenshots

depending on the app some of these might not be good ideas but use your imagination lol

[ksiphone]

this same person probably wants cheap mp3s. oh the irony.

[buckeye826]

I'm not buying **** till they come up with a copy/paste and MMS platform. Screw Apple I love the phone I've got two hell I've got three mac books including the new macbook. But im not buying anything else till they start taking care of their current customers and stop putting all their eggs into getting new customers.
Trust me if people stopped buying their **** for a while they would start getting the phone up to date. So the next time you think about spending .99 a few hounded times think how nice it would be to send a damn picture

[sziklassy]

Originally Posted by Rota

Beejive is very well established in making instant messaging apps for phones. The most popular one before the iPhone version came out was the one they make for Blackberries.

I don't doubt that... I was simply saying that I doubt most of their customers picked up the app simply BECAUSE it was beejive (but rather because a handful tested it out and gave it wonderful ratings)... all you did here was repeat what someone else said!

[dualcorex]

Originally Posted by soulthoughts

I'm all for trial apps. I think it would go a long way in helping people decide if they want to pay for a full version. I think it would also help get someone's brand out too. If someone gives an app a trial run and decides it's not the right app for them, they may decide that the app is well written and there's a chance they would look at other apps from the same developer.

Cracking apps is always going to be around, trial or not. I think the cracking community is relatively small compared to the average end user community so it's a known evil.

this is a main reason why people crack apps. my *friend* downloads a lot of cracked apps, and eventually deletes 99% of them within 10 min. alot of apps just plain suck and my friend isnt willing to pay the money to try it out. the only apps my friend uses daily are the dictionary apps and beejive (which he eventually payed for). everything else is pretty much junk.

then you got these devs putting 'lite' version on the apps store. such a joke. thanks for letting me try out half of your app. that half of the app i tried isnt worth the price. try again please

[DSMKilla]

Originally Posted by AppleChic

Although Apple has seen 10,000 applications and 300 million downloads in less than four months in its App Store, some are complaining that the lower priced apps are stifling innovation and inhibiting developers.

Craig Hockenberry, a seasoned developer who created the Frenzic and Twitterrific apps describes this problem well in his open letter to Steve Jobs.

The main problem is the enormous amount of 99-cent apps or less (see graph), what Hockenberry calls “ringtone apps,” where developers reduce their prices as low as possible so they’ll get favorable placement in iTunes. Hockenberry describes this, “We have a lot of great ideas for iPhone applications. Unfortunately, we’re not working on the cooler (and more complex) ideas. Instead, we’re working on 99¢ titles that have a limited lifespan and broad appeal. Market conditions make ringtone apps most appealing.”

Hockenberry explains that iPhone users complain about the cost of some apps without understanding what that app is really worth and that they should be willing to pay more for higher quality apps. Furthermore, Hockeberry says that Apple’s policies facilitate this.

Hockenberry says;

“Our products are a joy to use: as you well know, customers are willing to pay a premium for a quality products. This quality comes at a cost—which we’re willing to incur. The issue is then getting people to see that our $2.99 product really is worth three times the price of a 99¢ piece of crapware.”

Hockenberry does not propose a solution to this problem but rather just writes to Jobs, ”You and your team are perfectly capable of dealing with it on your own terms.” However, he further warns that this price point problem could prevent development of an app that could do for the iPhone what the spreadsheet did for the Apple II or similarly what desktop publishing did for the Mac.

What do you all think? Are you willing to pay more for better apps? Or are the 99-cent apps worth their price?

Source: Trouble in the (99-cent) App Store - Apple 2.0

A big thanks to “boe_dye” for letting me know about this story!

Sounds like someone is just being greedy.

Originally Posted by dualcorex

this is a main reason why people crack apps. my *friend* downloads a lot of cracked apps, and eventually deletes 99% of them within 10 min. alot of apps just plain suck and my friend isnt willing to pay the money to try it out. the only apps my friend uses daily are the dictionary apps and beejive (which he eventually payed for). everything else is pretty much junk.

then you got these devs putting 'lite' version on the apps store. such a joke. thanks for letting me try out half of your app. that half of the app i tried isnt worth the price. try again please

I agree with this 100%, are you sure I'm not your friend? LOL