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The App Store is part of an emerging market and this is what emerging markets look like. I'm barely old enough to remember going to computing shows in the mid-

The App Store is part of an emerging market and this is what emerging markets look like. I'm barely old enough to remember going to computing shows in the mid- to late- 1980s. The kind of warez being pawned off at these shows for $5-$10 was embarrassing too. There were some terribly bad games and software being made back then. What tends to happen is the market itself, at first, is exciting and people will buy anything. Once the market itself is no longer fresh, the buyers tire of the level of quality and become more discretionary and discerning in what they buy. Hasn't anyone had a new mall or shopping strip open up near them? People flock there for no reason whatsoever except that the experience is fresh. Once that fades, only the good stores survive. The App Store is no longer fresh and exciting. Sorry if your business plan of putting a piece of crap on sale there at $0.99 doesn't work for you now. The best software is yet to come. There are folks working on quality pieces of software and you'll see prices trend higher with the number of developers trending lower over the course of the next few years. The sweet pricing spot was $0.99 in the first year of the App Store. It'll be an order of magnitude higher in two years. I'm fairly certain about that.

erlanger 17y ago
> It'll be an order of magnitude higher in two years. By the time market forces have gathered to encourage this shift, the landscape will be radically different. The platform can only be locked down for so long. Most, if not all, mobile devices will be doing what the iPhone can do now in about five years. High-jend phones already do, and just like with camera phones, it will take time for the features to trickle down to the budget market. With an expanded market, mobile software will be pirated just as desktop software is today. Because the usability of the device implies connectivity, this piracy will be more user-friendly, sophisticated, and streamlined. This will absolutely clobber the $0.99 app market. The author of this article is really trapped in the Apple Bubble, and while his grievances are legitimate and well-argued, they'll be irrelevant very soon: Price controls like Apple's can't legally exist throughout an industry.
- CalmQuiet 17y ago
  > Most, if not all, mobile devices will be doing what the iPhone can do now in about five years. I'll concede you that. But (if S. Jobs is still in the saddle), can you imagine what the iPhone might be doing in five years? [I, personally, am not able to.]
  - erlanger 17y ago
    I bought a 1G 5GB iPod in 2002 that worked better than my current 5G 80GB iPod purchased five years later, in 2007. The interface is about the same, but everything is slower. I thought that something was severely wrong with the iPod when I purchased it because the menu interface is slow, verging on unresponsive, whenever music is playing. Apple has had so many chances to make the iPod a better device and has chosen not to, so I'd be surprised if they improved the iPhone significantly.

erlanger 17y ago

> It'll be an order of magnitude higher in two years. By the time market forces have gathered to encourage this shift, the landscape will be radically different. The platform can only be locked down for so long. Most, if not all, mobile devices will be doing what the iPhone can do now in about five years. High-jend phones already do, and just like with camera phones, it will take time for the features to trickle down to the budget market. With an expanded market, mobile software will be pirated just as desktop software is today. Because the usability of the device implies connectivity, this piracy will be more user-friendly, sophisticated, and streamlined. This will absolutely clobber the $0.99 app market. The author of this article is really trapped in the Apple Bubble, and while his grievances are legitimate and well-argued, they'll be irrelevant very soon: Price controls like Apple's can't legally exist throughout an industry.

CalmQuiet 17y ago
> Most, if not all, mobile devices will be doing what the iPhone can do now in about five years. I'll concede you that. But (if S. Jobs is still in the saddle), can you imagine what the iPhone might be doing in five years? [I, personally, am not able to.]
- erlanger 17y ago
  I bought a 1G 5GB iPod in 2002 that worked better than my current 5G 80GB iPod purchased five years later, in 2007. The interface is about the same, but everything is slower. I thought that something was severely wrong with the iPod when I purchased it because the menu interface is slow, verging on unresponsive, whenever music is playing. Apple has had so many chances to make the iPod a better device and has chosen not to, so I'd be surprised if they improved the iPhone significantly.