I agree with the idea that purchasing 99 cent app is a total gamble, even if I don't have much to lose. If I were writing a mobile app, I'd have a free version

I agree with the idea that purchasing 99 cent app is a total gamble, even if I don't have much to lose. If I were writing a mobile app, I'd have a free version and a paid version. The only difference between the two would be with the free version, you'd have to look at a screen trying to get you to upgrade to the paid version, and you would be forced to look at this screen for at least X seconds, where X is proportional to how many times you have used the application. I like this approach because it users could try out my app risk free, but those who want to freeload off of my hard work would be inconvenienced enough where I think I could manage to convert a decent percentage of free users into paid members. Plus, the user can still use the app, but each time they use it you get a chance to upsell them, which you don't get if you just lock them out.