4 ms·

What about $0.99/mo, or even $0.49/mo? My initial reaction is the same as yours, but I could see myself agreeing to $0.99/mo for some of the apps I paid $2 or $

What about $0.99/mo, or even $0.49/mo? My initial reaction is the same as yours, but I could see myself agreeing to $0.99/mo for some of the apps I paid $2 or $3 for. Still relatively cheap for me but would dramatically increase income for the developer.

wlesieutre 10y ago
$0.49/month is $6/year. If I thought an app was worth $2, I'm absolutely not willing to pay that much for it. If you're talking about an app that's a major part of your workflow for something, maybe this makes sense. But most of the apps that I've paid $2-$5 on are things that I'm only likely to fire up occasionally when I need them. Monthly fee to mark up photos or scan papers with the camera? I'll pass.
- ssharp 10y ago
  If the subscription price is $0.49, then you're effectively able to demo the product for one month and only risk $0.49. I'd hope "delete app" = automatic unsubscribe, which would make this type of trial pretty simple.
  - pfranz 10y ago
    They'd have to tweak a few other things. I often download apps on my phone and remove them soon after. A few weeks/months later I notice the app on my iPad; never launched.
- djrogers 10y ago
  > $0.49/month is $6/year. If I thought an app was worth $2, I'm absolutely not willing to pay that much for it. I honestly can't think of a single paid app that I use that I don't think is worth more than $2 to purchase forever. If there's an app I won't use often but professionals would use daily for years (say a house measurement app while I'm shipping for a house) I'm happy to pay .99 or 1.99 for the month or two that I'm using it, and simply unsubscribe when I no longer have a need for it. The real estate professionals that rely on the app however can pay that in perpetuity and get a better app out of the deal since it's actually making the developer money every month. On the other hand, for an app I use every day (say Overcast) I'd be happy to pay a subscription price for monthly/quarterly/yearly use of it. I think this will have 2 positive effects - 1) developers can be incented and paid for keeping their apps current and improved 2) the 'top paid' areas of the app store will be strongly indicative of quality, as the more people are willing to pay recurring costs for an app, the more likely it is to be good (games probably fall in a different category, but I don't do much gaming these days).
  - wlesieutre 10y ago
    How about a VNC client for when you occasionally want to remote into your home computer? Say you use it every two weeks. Subscription price is $5/month ($60/year) because it's a professional tool for sysadmins who use it all the time. Maybe you'd have paid $30 for it standalone, but now if you want to use it for 3 years, the price is 6x as high (and the software poofs when you stop paying). The line between professional tools and software I'd like to use for totally noncommercial purposes once every couple of weeks isn't always clear cut, and the pricing policies on the App Store have tended to keep things at an affordable mid-range where I can buy something even if it's only for occasional use. Subscription prices seem to get priced for the heavy professional users. The solution I'm hoping for (carrying on the VNC example) is a free tier locked to a single connection, cheap tier with 5 saved connections, and professional tier for heavy users. But you just know the net effect of this is going to be prices going up (they wouldn't be doing it otherwise), and there are frankly a lot of things that aren't worth a recurring payment to keep around.
    - djrogers 10y ago
      sounds like a cheaper VNC client would be a better option for you - fortunately there are dozens...
AlexandrB 10y ago
My app usage pattern is a handful of apps I use every day and a much larger number of apps that I use very occasionally (down to once a year for something like GPS Nav, an offline mapping app). The problem with subscriptions is that it's hard for me to justify paying a recurring $12/year subscription for an app that I'll use once in that time. These kinds of apps I'm most likely to just do without if they go to a subscription model.
- AlexandrB 10y ago
  Even for commonly used apps, subscriptions raise the spectre of "how do I get my data out". Currently, if a purchased app stops being supported I can still open it and get at my data (until an iOS update that breaks it at least). What happens if I don't want to subscribe to an app anymore (for example if the pricing changes)? Can I export data already in it? If there's no clear export story upfront, why should I trust any of my data to a subscription app?
  - givinguflac 10y ago
    I totally get your point. Personally, I wouldn't trust even any app with crucial data if there's no export method, even if it's free.
    - ergothus 10y ago
      We aren't necessarily talking about _crucial_ data, we're just talking data. Whether it's an app the monitors my movement during sleep, or a todo app - I generated that data, and if I can't get access to it, it's a reduction in convenience.
- porlw 10y ago
  Use my new app! It's a special folder. When you put an app in the folder it will DELETE the app from your phone and store it like a symlink. When you try to open the app from the folder it will install it again for you. Think of all the subscription money you will save! Only $5 per month.
Jtsummers 10y ago
Unless they're storing my data or providing me with updated content (Hulu, Netflix, et al.), I have no interest in a recurring, monthly subscription for most of my apps. I'll pay a subscription for an app that receives substantive updates. But most apps don't need that, and they don't provide them at a monthly rate (they may provide updates that frequently, but not pay-worthy updates).
crabwalkjb 10y ago
Note that while the new rules don't let you go lower than $0.99 per subscription payment, they also allow for terms longer than a month — they can be once every two months, three months, or six months. So you could do $0.99 quarterly, for example, for $4 a year.

wlesieutre 10y ago

$0.49/month is $6/year. If I thought an app was worth $2, I'm absolutely not willing to pay that much for it. If you're talking about an app that's a major part of your workflow for something, maybe this makes sense. But most of the apps that I've paid $2-$5 on are things that I'm only likely to fire up occasionally when I need them. Monthly fee to mark up photos or scan papers with the camera? I'll pass.

ssharp 10y ago
If the subscription price is $0.49, then you're effectively able to demo the product for one month and only risk $0.49. I'd hope "delete app" = automatic unsubscribe, which would make this type of trial pretty simple.
- pfranz 10y ago
  They'd have to tweak a few other things. I often download apps on my phone and remove them soon after. A few weeks/months later I notice the app on my iPad; never launched.
djrogers 10y ago
> $0.49/month is $6/year. If I thought an app was worth $2, I'm absolutely not willing to pay that much for it. I honestly can't think of a single paid app that I use that I don't think is worth more than $2 to purchase forever. If there's an app I won't use often but professionals would use daily for years (say a house measurement app while I'm shipping for a house) I'm happy to pay .99 or 1.99 for the month or two that I'm using it, and simply unsubscribe when I no longer have a need for it. The real estate professionals that rely on the app however can pay that in perpetuity and get a better app out of the deal since it's actually making the developer money every month. On the other hand, for an app I use every day (say Overcast) I'd be happy to pay a subscription price for monthly/quarterly/yearly use of it. I think this will have 2 positive effects - 1) developers can be incented and paid for keeping their apps current and improved 2) the 'top paid' areas of the app store will be strongly indicative of quality, as the more people are willing to pay recurring costs for an app, the more likely it is to be good (games probably fall in a different category, but I don't do much gaming these days).
- wlesieutre 10y ago
  How about a VNC client for when you occasionally want to remote into your home computer? Say you use it every two weeks. Subscription price is $5/month ($60/year) because it's a professional tool for sysadmins who use it all the time. Maybe you'd have paid $30 for it standalone, but now if you want to use it for 3 years, the price is 6x as high (and the software poofs when you stop paying). The line between professional tools and software I'd like to use for totally noncommercial purposes once every couple of weeks isn't always clear cut, and the pricing policies on the App Store have tended to keep things at an affordable mid-range where I can buy something even if it's only for occasional use. Subscription prices seem to get priced for the heavy professional users. The solution I'm hoping for (carrying on the VNC example) is a free tier locked to a single connection, cheap tier with 5 saved connections, and professional tier for heavy users. But you just know the net effect of this is going to be prices going up (they wouldn't be doing it otherwise), and there are frankly a lot of things that aren't worth a recurring payment to keep around.
  - djrogers 10y ago
    sounds like a cheaper VNC client would be a better option for you - fortunately there are dozens...

AlexandrB 10y ago

My app usage pattern is a handful of apps I use every day and a much larger number of apps that I use very occasionally (down to once a year for something like GPS Nav, an offline mapping app). The problem with subscriptions is that it's hard for me to justify paying a recurring $12/year subscription for an app that I'll use once in that time. These kinds of apps I'm most likely to just do without if they go to a subscription model.

AlexandrB 10y ago
Even for commonly used apps, subscriptions raise the spectre of "how do I get my data out". Currently, if a purchased app stops being supported I can still open it and get at my data (until an iOS update that breaks it at least). What happens if I don't want to subscribe to an app anymore (for example if the pricing changes)? Can I export data already in it? If there's no clear export story upfront, why should I trust any of my data to a subscription app?
- givinguflac 10y ago
  I totally get your point. Personally, I wouldn't trust even any app with crucial data if there's no export method, even if it's free.
  - ergothus 10y ago
    We aren't necessarily talking about _crucial_ data, we're just talking data. Whether it's an app the monitors my movement during sleep, or a todo app - I generated that data, and if I can't get access to it, it's a reduction in convenience.
porlw 10y ago
Use my new app! It's a special folder. When you put an app in the folder it will DELETE the app from your phone and store it like a symlink. When you try to open the app from the folder it will install it again for you. Think of all the subscription money you will save! Only $5 per month.

Jtsummers 10y ago

Unless they're storing my data or providing me with updated content (Hulu, Netflix, et al.), I have no interest in a recurring, monthly subscription for most of my apps. I'll pay a subscription for an app that receives substantive updates. But most apps don't need that, and they don't provide them at a monthly rate (they may provide updates that frequently, but not pay-worthy updates).

crabwalkjb 10y ago

Note that while the new rules don't let you go lower than $0.99 per subscription payment, they also allow for terms longer than a month — they can be once every two months, three months, or six months. So you could do $0.99 quarterly, for example, for $4 a year.