6 ms·

That's a clever use of the iPhone, but why are people so eager to be parted with their money to buy some eye candy app?

davi 18y ago
People like eye candy. People like to have fun. It's a toy. You get to show your friends, and say, "Look at this cool new toy I found." Entertainment is a huge market. "Make something people want."
- KirinDave 18y ago
  You put this beautifully. It's called candy for chrissakes. Who doesn't like candy?
tlrobinson 18y ago
It's a dollar. Most people (at least who own an iPhone) can afford it even if they only use it once for 5 minutes and forget about it. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of people buy these apps on impulse and rarely use it again after checking it out.
josefresco 18y ago
Really?!? You're questioning why Apple iPhone users would want to purchase an app solely because it's shiny "eye candy"? Sorry, that joke just writes itself.
- axod 18y ago
  This is not an Apple iPhone phenomenon. Why do people pay billions for mobile phone ringtones? People even pay for them on phones that you can just copy an mp3 onto and use as the ringtone. Mobile phones have a fantastic built in micropayment system - it gets added to your bill, and you probably don't even notice - there is no hurdle.
  - raganwald 18y ago
    > Mobile phones have a fantastic built in micropayment system - it gets added to your bill, and you probably don't even notice - there is no hurdle. That's the innovation: When you make micropayments easy, you make it easy to sell candy.
adamhowell 18y ago
Think about what else in the world costs $.99 -- can't even get a 20oz soda for that anymore -- and then think about what cool software -- like games -- normally cost. This is a cool little piece of technology for less than the cost of a soda. That's a) something you can't really get anywhere else and b) possibly the beginning of the micropayment revolution for things other than music that we've been waiting on for awhile now (unfortunately self contained to the iphone for now, but I'm sure coming to the rest of the product line soon)
- nihilocrat 18y ago
  Oh, okay. At $.99 I can see why it would be popular. And I've just demonstrated that I read one too few paragraphs in the story.
- davi 18y ago
  Interesting -- in the end, inflation is what will let us make micropayments...
  - ntoshev 18y ago
    How so? The problem with micropayments is not that the absolute numbers are low (in many currencies the numbers are always pretty high).
    - davi 18y ago
      Because of the difference between deploying infrastructure vs. maintaining infrastructure already deployed. Companies seem to be willing to deploy infrastructure to collect e.g. 1 dollar payments, but not 10 cent payments. I'm guessing that they'll be willing to maintain that infrastructure even as the value of the payment decreases due to inflation, since the per transaction costs are low and likely to get lower, and there's little risk in maintaining existing infrastructure.
deleted 18y ago
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davi 18y ago

People like eye candy. People like to have fun. It's a toy. You get to show your friends, and say, "Look at this cool new toy I found." Entertainment is a huge market. "Make something people want."

KirinDave 18y ago
You put this beautifully. It's called candy for chrissakes. Who doesn't like candy?

tlrobinson 18y ago

It's a dollar. Most people (at least who own an iPhone) can afford it even if they only use it once for 5 minutes and forget about it. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of people buy these apps on impulse and rarely use it again after checking it out.

josefresco 18y ago

Really?!? You're questioning why Apple iPhone users would want to purchase an app solely because it's shiny "eye candy"? Sorry, that joke just writes itself.

axod 18y ago
This is not an Apple iPhone phenomenon. Why do people pay billions for mobile phone ringtones? People even pay for them on phones that you can just copy an mp3 onto and use as the ringtone. Mobile phones have a fantastic built in micropayment system - it gets added to your bill, and you probably don't even notice - there is no hurdle.
- raganwald 18y ago
  > Mobile phones have a fantastic built in micropayment system - it gets added to your bill, and you probably don't even notice - there is no hurdle. That's the innovation: When you make micropayments easy, you make it easy to sell candy.

adamhowell 18y ago

Think about what else in the world costs $.99 -- can't even get a 20oz soda for that anymore -- and then think about what cool software -- like games -- normally cost. This is a cool little piece of technology for less than the cost of a soda. That's a) something you can't really get anywhere else and b) possibly the beginning of the micropayment revolution for things other than music that we've been waiting on for awhile now (unfortunately self contained to the iphone for now, but I'm sure coming to the rest of the product line soon)

nihilocrat 18y ago
Oh, okay. At $.99 I can see why it would be popular. And I've just demonstrated that I read one too few paragraphs in the story.
davi 18y ago
Interesting -- in the end, inflation is what will let us make micropayments...
- ntoshev 18y ago
  How so? The problem with micropayments is not that the absolute numbers are low (in many currencies the numbers are always pretty high).
  - davi 18y ago
    Because of the difference between deploying infrastructure vs. maintaining infrastructure already deployed. Companies seem to be willing to deploy infrastructure to collect e.g. 1 dollar payments, but not 10 cent payments. I'm guessing that they'll be willing to maintain that infrastructure even as the value of the payment decreases due to inflation, since the per transaction costs are low and likely to get lower, and there's little risk in maintaining existing infrastructure.

deleted 18y ago

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