Link Apple has opened up In App Purchases for Free Apps. Hooray! No more lite versions! I think this is a great idea! What do you guys think?
That sounds great if it'll allow lite versions to convert to full without any need of reinstalling the whole app.
Scary. On the other hand, who needs lite versions with this model? Push out a version with just a few levels/etc, charge for the rest of the game. Is DLC downloaded through Apple or direct from other sources? If it's from other sources, that might make things a bit more scary as if they shut their servers down you lose access to your DLC... I guess the same could happen to Apple, but I doubt it. I really hope Apple moves game data to something stored a bit better than a full backup...
This is a game changing event. Think about it for a second. This could be the death of the Paid rank lists. Half the visibility as before. Everything free to start.
Its very exciting! I agree, hopefully this does away with the paid lists and lite versions. One negative, it *could* lead to massive one star reviews.
Exactly what I was thinking. If developers rush to embrace this model, we're all going to be fighting for space in the FREE rankings, meaning exactly as you point out there will be only half as many top 100 slots to be seen in. Would people then expect ALL apps/games to be free, with an unlockable portion for pay? Will people stop browsing the paid section completely, causing sales of even 99 cent games to tank?! The next few months will be very interesting to watch.
You're right. I seriously hope Apple's thought this through. One thing that scares me: drive by reviews for free apps getting mixed with reviews for apps that take into account the in-app purchases. I don't see that this will necessarily cause the paid rank list to die, though. If this causes a massive shift from paid to free apps, it will become increasingly more difficult to get visibility on the free list.
Yes, it'll be 2008 all over again, where anybody can review an app without paying a cent... and man the ridiculous reviews were everywhere back then. People would type in whatever they felt like, even if it was not related to the app or game in question, as though iTunes was their own personal Myspace page or something! The one interesting thing of note is Apple (in the e-mail I received about it) is claiming that this could help combat piracy by allowing developers to verify in-app purchases....
Here's the thing: Apple doesn't care which apps are visible/making money, as long as they're selling hardware. Make everything have the ability to be free to start, and that becomes a zillion times more attractive to people on the fence about getting some hardware.
I can see many problems with this but i think i know way apple did this to get rid of apps being stolen and to push all app development to 3.0
Bingo! Apple has always said they're in the hardware business, not the software business. OSX is just a carrot used to sell iMacs and Macbooks. They don't care how this affects individual developers as long as it increases iPhone and iPod Touch sales
No idea why a hacker couldn't bypass it. The content, or the ability to enable access to server content, has to already exist in the app. The in-app purchase just unlocks it. All they have to do is find the spot, and snip it. Instant content.
As someone who has a few top 100 ranked apps in some paid categories, I am extremely worried right now.
Right, I don't understand the statement either. Any code monkey with a hex editor could patch it real quick... Unless Apple plans to provide you with more ACTUAL DETAILS of who's purchased your content (by UDID or something) so that you can filter server requests yourself... Anyone else heard something on that front?
wowo so all apps free apps? What will happen of the model? Top paid, top grossing? Any apple people here?
