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I read the blog post that was cited in this article yesterday. I mean no offense (particularly if the author hangs out here on HN), but it sounded an awful lot

I read the blog post that was cited in this article yesterday. I mean no offense (particularly if the author hangs out here on HN), but it sounded an awful lot like whining to me. Why does it come as any surprise that consumers are flocking to the cheaper alternatives? And of course, given that application developers are competing with one another, price is one of the key ways they are going to do that. This is classic supply and demand at work. Maybe this is just because I look at it from the perspective of a web application developer, and think to myself, "If ONLY there was an easy way to charge people a low price like $0.99 to use my app instead of having to rely on Google Ads for revenue..." All of this said, it does sound like Apple could make some changes to the iTunes app store experience to help application developers better showcase the experience of higher priced apps. Another interesting idea would be for Apple to facilitate a way for application developers to create charges from within the app itself. So maybe you could download the app itself for free, but the app could charge you for premium features, or pennies for certain kinds of usage, etc.

jfarmer 18y ago
The App Store is doing the right thing -- putting the apps that make them the most money in a place where they have the opportunity to make even more money. That's fine and expected. The mistake developers are making is relying on the App Store to solve their marketing problem, when it only really solves the distribution problem. If you're trying to stimulate demand in that environment your only option is to lower your price (see, e.g., 3-for-2 sales at Borders). What developers should be doing is looking for marketing channels outside the App Store that drive people to the App Store with the intent of buying their app.

jfarmer 18y ago

The App Store is doing the right thing -- putting the apps that make them the most money in a place where they have the opportunity to make even more money. That's fine and expected. The mistake developers are making is relying on the App Store to solve their marketing problem, when it only really solves the distribution problem. If you're trying to stimulate demand in that environment your only option is to lower your price (see, e.g., 3-for-2 sales at Borders). What developers should be doing is looking for marketing channels outside the App Store that drive people to the App Store with the intent of buying their app.