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You would think a company like Apple could easily build a system that updated exchange rates daily and could do the simple math on any price. Having "price poin

You would think a company like Apple could easily build a system that updated exchange rates daily and could do the simple math on any price. Having "price points" seems arbitrarily and stupid.

simonw 4y ago
They could do that, but then users in some countries would have to pay 0.693 of their local currency or whatever. Why should the US be the only country that gets friendly looking prices?
- bmicraft 4y ago
  Or just let the dev specify if they want to round prices to some precision?
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  I'm an American. I routinely buy things in GBP, EUR, and JPY and the amounts convert to an arbitrary number in USD. So what? It is displayed to me as 9.99 EUR. I understand I'm not going to have a nice, pretty .99 at the end of my credit card transaction.
  - gumby 4y ago
    Yes, but you don't know that in the App store: you're buying from your "local" store regardless of where the developer is.
  - simonw 4y ago
    I would expect that the vast majority of human beings very rarely buy anything in a currency other than that of their own country.
- jw1224 4y ago
  The point is that price points already are friendly-looking in every country. Price points are adjusted in each country, they’re not a 1:1 match with $USD.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
toast0 4y ago
Otoh, there's value in prices holding still for at least a while. And 'pretty' prices are appealing in general. You obviously can't hold prices still forever, but daily prices is probably not paletable.
gumby 4y ago
Price points smooth the exchange rate fluctuation (how often should the prices be updated? Every second? More often?) and selects for prices that have certain cultural"gravity" as well. I think buyers are more accustomed to and comfortable with "round" or "standard" prices like x.99, x.88, x.95, x.00 etc rather than x.47 or x.31.
- zamadatix 4y ago
  Exchange rate fluctuation I think could be handled perfectly fine without price points but the price point "gravities" is a really good reason to use the system. Not sure why it should limit developers to that system but it certainly makes the system attractive/useful for many.
  - gumby 4y ago
    > Not sure why it should limit developers to that system but it certainly makes the system attractive/useful for many. Because most developers are presumably experts in programming* and whatever the domain of their app is* (game, drawing program, whatever) and not experts in the psychology of pricing (unless it's a pricing app I suppose!). Now so what? They could allow you to pick a predetermined price or type whatever integer you want into it. But I assume they think consistency makes for a better buying experience, and poor pricing choices are a kind of externality that affects everyone. I'm slightly dubious of this "externality" really being bad but in this case I'll give the horde of Apple marketing researchers the benefit of the doubt. * This is HN so the obvious snark has not been inserted
    - zamadatix 4y ago
      The problem with appeal to authority on this is the same could have been said last week about why it wasn’t like this. It doesn’t make it any more reasonable it just explains it is the way it is.
      - throwaway290 4y ago
        They were exactly like this just with fewer price points.
kaba0 4y ago
But it is not just math. It is about what constitutes a cheap app for an East-European or to a Chinese person vs that of an American, and how that changes with time in relation to the currencies. I really don’t get this dismissive mindset, do you honestly believe that a trillion dollar company didn’t think of this one little trick that you figured out in a minute?
cush 4y ago
The fact that is seems stupid from the point of view of the creator is irrelevant. It's not about the creators, it's about the users. Apple simplifies incredibly complex systems into good user experiences.
willnonya 4y ago
It is stupid. The exchange rates are a rehearing here. It's likely just a marketing aspect, setting the last digits etc or wlensrluring they don't lose out on a half cent of commission somewhere.

You would think a company like Apple could easily build a system that updated exchange rates daily and could do the simple math on any price. Having "price points" seems arbitrarily and stupid.

simonw 4y ago

They could do that, but then users in some countries would have to pay 0.693 of their local currency or whatever. Why should the US be the only country that gets friendly looking prices?

bmicraft 4y ago
Or just let the dev specify if they want to round prices to some precision?
TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
I'm an American. I routinely buy things in GBP, EUR, and JPY and the amounts convert to an arbitrary number in USD. So what? It is displayed to me as 9.99 EUR. I understand I'm not going to have a nice, pretty .99 at the end of my credit card transaction.
- gumby 4y ago
  Yes, but you don't know that in the App store: you're buying from your "local" store regardless of where the developer is.
- simonw 4y ago
  I would expect that the vast majority of human beings very rarely buy anything in a currency other than that of their own country.
jw1224 4y ago
The point is that price points already are friendly-looking in every country. Price points are adjusted in each country, they’re not a 1:1 match with $USD.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

toast0 4y ago

Otoh, there's value in prices holding still for at least a while. And 'pretty' prices are appealing in general. You obviously can't hold prices still forever, but daily prices is probably not paletable.

gumby 4y ago

Price points smooth the exchange rate fluctuation (how often should the prices be updated? Every second? More often?) and selects for prices that have certain cultural"gravity" as well. I think buyers are more accustomed to and comfortable with "round" or "standard" prices like x.99, x.88, x.95, x.00 etc rather than x.47 or x.31.

zamadatix 4y ago
Exchange rate fluctuation I think could be handled perfectly fine without price points but the price point "gravities" is a really good reason to use the system. Not sure why it should limit developers to that system but it certainly makes the system attractive/useful for many.
- gumby 4y ago
  > Not sure why it should limit developers to that system but it certainly makes the system attractive/useful for many. Because most developers are presumably experts in programming* and whatever the domain of their app is* (game, drawing program, whatever) and not experts in the psychology of pricing (unless it's a pricing app I suppose!). Now so what? They could allow you to pick a predetermined price or type whatever integer you want into it. But I assume they think consistency makes for a better buying experience, and poor pricing choices are a kind of externality that affects everyone. I'm slightly dubious of this "externality" really being bad but in this case I'll give the horde of Apple marketing researchers the benefit of the doubt. * This is HN so the obvious snark has not been inserted
  - zamadatix 4y ago
    The problem with appeal to authority on this is the same could have been said last week about why it wasn’t like this. It doesn’t make it any more reasonable it just explains it is the way it is.
    - throwaway290 4y ago
      They were exactly like this just with fewer price points.

kaba0 4y ago

But it is not just math. It is about what constitutes a cheap app for an East-European or to a Chinese person vs that of an American, and how that changes with time in relation to the currencies. I really don’t get this dismissive mindset, do you honestly believe that a trillion dollar company didn’t think of this one little trick that you figured out in a minute?

cush 4y ago

The fact that is seems stupid from the point of view of the creator is irrelevant. It's not about the creators, it's about the users. Apple simplifies incredibly complex systems into good user experiences.

willnonya 4y ago

It is stupid. The exchange rates are a rehearing here. It's likely just a marketing aspect, setting the last digits etc or wlensrluring they don't lose out on a half cent of commission somewhere.