4 ms·

I don't think this is Apple's fault as much as the reality of competition. The reason apps are so cheap is because there are so many substitutes. Apple may be

by Eridrus 10y ago

I don't think this is Apple's fault as much as the reality of competition. The reason apps are so cheap is because there are so many substitutes. Apple may be highlighting those who support multiple platforms, but its not telling anyone what to charge. Musicians complain about the same thing as music gets cheaper and remains somewhat fungible. It's no one's fault, it's just the reality of competition in an industry with zero marginal cost.

cousin_it 10y ago
This x100. The problem has nothing to do with Apple. Writers, painters and musicians have been faced with the same kind of market for a while, though there's no centralized middleman. Video game developers are headed that way as well. When distribution is easy, "little guys" overrun the market and drive the average success level to zero. Ironically the one thing that might help is centralized gatekeeping with strict quality control. But that's not as profitable for the gatekeeper as the alternative, so I guess it makes sense for the gatekeeper to be a non-profit entity that can enforce rules, like a union or guild. I wonder when the world will realize that.
- pdkl95 10y ago
  s/centralized gatekeeping/curation service/ Yes, it won't be as profitable as a walled garden, and it will live or die by their reputation. When the market races to the bottom, quality suffers and the risk of scams/etc increases. Eventually, this creates a market of people who don't want to risk buying a lemon. A store that carefully curated what they offer and/or offers additional guarantees about safety/quality/etc is a model that has been successful in the past.
  - Eridrus 10y ago
    I don't think lemons are a real concern in digital economies where marginal costs are zero, so it costs you nothing other than a lost sale to offer a refund. Not sure about Apple's store, but you can get a refund without too much difficulty on Steam of the Play store. Discoverability is a real concern though.
    - petra 10y ago
      That's what's ads are for, right?
    - cousin_it 10y ago
      In gaming at least, lemons are a big concern. For some reason gamers are very afraid of spending five bucks on a possibly imperfect game. Even when refunds are easy and automatic. It defies logic, but it's true. Anyone who can make curation trustworthy will make millions.
- xixi77 10y ago
  Yes, but why can the little guys do it? If they can produce acceptable quality at a lower price, what is the problem with that? Or if they can't, why are people not seeing that? To me it seems that it's a bit of both: Apple store is definitely not doing enough to promote quality over spam; but it is also the case that this market simply allows more competition from below (aka disruption in its classic definition), which is not a bad thing. This is in fact somewhat similar to music (and a lot of other industries -- my favorite example is the monologue from Boogie Nights about direct-to-video porn), where the people who have been hit hardest (and who seem to be complaining the most) are not even musicians themselves, but various people supporting professional music production. Well, surprise: turns out people are not willing to pay for quality as much as they thought it was worth.
criddell 10y ago
I think you nailed it. It's almost like that Yogi Berra quote - nobody writes software anymore because it's too competitive.
microwavecamera 10y ago
Totally agree. iOS app developers are worldwide. Developers in the US are competing against developers in other countries that can sell low and still be profitable. Plus it doesn't have an effect on the software market as a whole. They're mobile apps. It's like saying people will expect software like Photoshop, Intellij or Matlab to be cheap because Candy Crush only cost them $5.
- xixi77 10y ago
  All kinds of developers are worldwide though; a lot of desktop software companies have developer teams outside of the US (even when the company itself is US based, and often it's not anyway).

by Eridrus 10y ago

cousin_it 10y ago

This x100. The problem has nothing to do with Apple. Writers, painters and musicians have been faced with the same kind of market for a while, though there's no centralized middleman. Video game developers are headed that way as well. When distribution is easy, "little guys" overrun the market and drive the average success level to zero. Ironically the one thing that might help is centralized gatekeeping with strict quality control. But that's not as profitable for the gatekeeper as the alternative, so I guess it makes sense for the gatekeeper to be a non-profit entity that can enforce rules, like a union or guild. I wonder when the world will realize that.

pdkl95 10y ago
s/centralized gatekeeping/curation service/ Yes, it won't be as profitable as a walled garden, and it will live or die by their reputation. When the market races to the bottom, quality suffers and the risk of scams/etc increases. Eventually, this creates a market of people who don't want to risk buying a lemon. A store that carefully curated what they offer and/or offers additional guarantees about safety/quality/etc is a model that has been successful in the past.
- Eridrus 10y ago
  I don't think lemons are a real concern in digital economies where marginal costs are zero, so it costs you nothing other than a lost sale to offer a refund. Not sure about Apple's store, but you can get a refund without too much difficulty on Steam of the Play store. Discoverability is a real concern though.
  - petra 10y ago
    That's what's ads are for, right?
  - cousin_it 10y ago
    In gaming at least, lemons are a big concern. For some reason gamers are very afraid of spending five bucks on a possibly imperfect game. Even when refunds are easy and automatic. It defies logic, but it's true. Anyone who can make curation trustworthy will make millions.
xixi77 10y ago
Yes, but why can the little guys do it? If they can produce acceptable quality at a lower price, what is the problem with that? Or if they can't, why are people not seeing that? To me it seems that it's a bit of both: Apple store is definitely not doing enough to promote quality over spam; but it is also the case that this market simply allows more competition from below (aka disruption in its classic definition), which is not a bad thing. This is in fact somewhat similar to music (and a lot of other industries -- my favorite example is the monologue from Boogie Nights about direct-to-video porn), where the people who have been hit hardest (and who seem to be complaining the most) are not even musicians themselves, but various people supporting professional music production. Well, surprise: turns out people are not willing to pay for quality as much as they thought it was worth.

criddell 10y ago

I think you nailed it. It's almost like that Yogi Berra quote - nobody writes software anymore because it's too competitive.

microwavecamera 10y ago

Totally agree. iOS app developers are worldwide. Developers in the US are competing against developers in other countries that can sell low and still be profitable. Plus it doesn't have an effect on the software market as a whole. They're mobile apps. It's like saying people will expect software like Photoshop, Intellij or Matlab to be cheap because Candy Crush only cost them $5.

xixi77 10y ago
All kinds of developers are worldwide though; a lot of desktop software companies have developer teams outside of the US (even when the company itself is US based, and often it's not anyway).