Ipad App Price gouging?

It's better for the economy.

 

The issue of app store prices has been discussed here for years. Do some reading.

The problem is not "price gouging." The problem is that apps have been devalued, and developers have had to lower their prices to remain competitive. Many of us with the cash to buy an iPad want high quality apps, and are willing to pay a fair price for them.

I am hoping that developers will be able to receive a fair price for their apps, and thus will be able to continue to develop great apps. It would be a shame if the iPad app store turns into a 99-cent store.

 

Less content means higher prices. I expect the prices to go down soon when theirs more competition on the iPad app store but I do believe most of the good apps are underpriced compared to what the would cost on a different mobile platform.

Be happy that apple let's you download apps forever on all the app platforms. I remember buying Beejive for my old blackberry pearl where it costs I believe 20 dollars for the lifetime of the device and 30 dollars to transfer the license over to new smartphones. I remember on my old Helio Ocean it used to cost a few dollars to rent the game for a week or so and 7-10 dollars to buy the games The great thing about the app store is that there's always something good to buy for a buck (Artshop studio for iPad 99 cents ftw) or two

 

its simple

if you can buy an ipad you can buy more expensive apps

 

I agree on certain situations like Flight Control or Azkend (which still deserves a price bump, but only by a dollar or so) where it's mostly just improved resolutions. However, when a decent amount of the UI is redone, and more content is added, $5 to $10 isn't so bad.

 

In large part the lack of content has arisen because of the devaluation of apps. Thanks to the "race to the bottom" prices bottomed out on apps that were trying to compete for top spots in the rankings and hoping to make up for the lack of profit on cheap apps with high volume, developers realized that it was a losing battle to make high quality games with loads of content and then have to price them at rock bottom in order to compete. So what we've ended up with are games with less content that require less development time (and therefore less money invested in said development) in order to justify dirt cheap prices.

The race to the bottom hurt not only the developers foolish enough to engage in it, but all developers in the long run, and users in general who ended up with an App Store filled in large part with cheaply made stuff that's only marginally worth the sticker price if that. (There are plenty of exceptions, I'm aware of that, but they remain a significant minority.)

So, yes. Apps are undervalued. They've always been undervalued, and that's led to diminishing returns and entitled users who now think that they deserve more for their $0.99 just because others have foolishly undersold themselves and delivered more.

Unfortunately, I have no doubt that, as man continues to fail at learning from its mistakes, especially when it comes to flipping a quick buck, we will see the same thing happen on the iPad.

 

Listen to all of you! Just because someone forked over a bunch of cash for their new iPad doesn't mean they have all that much money to spare for the apps compatible with it. Not to mention that along with handing over a pretty paycheck for the device, a monthly service charge is applied (like an iPhone but without the calling, texting, and phone/gps/compass based apps). It's like an overgrown iPod touch with just a few less features and you have to pay for the ability to use WiFi, which leaves an even more narrow budget with which to buy niceties for the oh-so-glorious hunk of technology.
When I bought my iPhone 3G S a year ago, I spent a lot of my app-browsing time within the first month looking for free games and the like. Luckily the iPad features a few free games, but let's take the following scenario into consideration:
Over the past year I've spent quite a lot of money on games, and only because I like to think of my iPhone as a do-it-all device that can conveniently fit in my pocket. I'm going to go ahead and estimate that I've spent roughly $150 - 200 on apps. How many? 60 PAID games (Yes, I'm just counting the games, but go ahead and toss about 4 or 5 utilities in the like Shazam and a few photo editors). By the time I pay for a year's worth of enjoyment, I've paid for about half my phone's flat-rate (which means I'm not including my monthly bill). Keep 50% in the back of your mind for now. Most will say that's too much, but if you're as big a fan as I, you'll understand the mentality I have when it comes to getting the most out of what you pay for.
Now let's think about this in perspective to the iPad. We'll exclude the monthly payments as well to make all things fair. I'll even give it the same features space and capability-wise as my iPhone: 16 GB with WiFi and 3G. That's $630 dropped right there. Say you buy 60 apps for $10 a pop (I'm just averaging) over the course of a year. By the time you do that, you could have had yourself a second iPad. That's nearly 100% of the total cost of the device you just bought.
But who would want another one when all this fickleness is afoot? Not I. The iPad is not something I want... Not in the near future anyway. To even things up between the iPhone/iPad app price ratio, developers need to cut the costs in half.
Just sayin'

 

You do realize how many people purchase apps, right? Millions. It's not so much price competition if you'll take note of several apps that either pay no mind to competitors or simply do fine without. Call of Duty World at War: Zombies has been out for nearly a year now and it's STILL priced at $9.99. It doesn't seem to be affecting their business. Many of the better quality games maintain high(er) prices. Examples:
The Sims 3 - $6.99
Touchgrind - $4.99
Real Racing - $4.99
Ravensword - $4.99
N.O.V.A. - $4.99
They're ALL top sellers despite the prices and do you know why? People will continue to buy them because they're quality apps, so the first point I'm going to knock out is that they're NOT being forced into lowering their prices. They'll do just fine.
And if they do lower the price, it opens them up to even more customers. Look at how many 99 cent apps are flourishing because of their popularity and the millions of people buying them. They will have constant income as long as it's a quality app, so there's no excuse for the content to go down when the prices do. The reason why they feel the need to lower their prices is to get people to buy them. Why do people want to buy an app? Because of the quality (and sometimes quantity) of the content. If it's a good app such as COD WAW Zombies, the price doesn't matter. People will still buy them. Now get to work developers and start making better apps so people will quit whining about prices

 

How much would you expect to pay for those titles you listed on the Wii Marketplace? PSP? DSi? More than the listed prices here, that's for sure -- at least double. What, if not devaluation, do you propose the reason the games are significantly cheaper on the iPhone is, then? What's more, none of the developers of those games are indies. They're mid-to-large-size, well-established companies with big budgets and plenty of staff to get things done to a professional degree of polish. Of course they're going to make top quality games. Expecting indie developers -- who, need I remind you, make up the vast majority of developers on the App Store - to compete with that isn't just unreasonable, it's patently absurd.

Go develop a game. A game with the degree of quality you espouse. Then tell me your effort is only worth a buck.

 

The prices will go down soon enough, quit yer whining

 

It has nothing to do with the effort when the payoff will be the same. It's like when McDonald's started their dollar menu. It's great food for a lower price, and because of that lower price, people flock in.
If people like it, they'll buy it. If they don't, then I suggest you put even more work into your app so people will want to buy it. It's all about what the customer wants. I understand putting effort into an app and wanting to profit from it, but you have to also see where I'm coming from as well.
I do expect to pay more for games on consoles and I'll tell you why:
Whereas app developers have a team of roughly 10 people assigned to each game (give or take a few; I understand there are some who require more and less), console game developers have a team of 50 or more. Their salaries all have to be paid. What else makes them different? The app store requires no packaging and processing of the game. It's make-it-and-go. Console games require the tech work (as do apps), along with the creation of billions of hard copies (the app store only requires on sharable file which costs nothing but the labor put into it) and their containers, all of which require factory production. Guess what that means? You pay the factory workers too! Then you have to ship them out to retailers worldwide. Oh dear, another cost! That's mailing that they have o pay for, y'know. Let's see if we can find anything else... Oh yeah! Advertising. That's a big thing these days to pay for commercials on TV, put up a few banners in the store you stock your games in, then in other places like billboards and in the mall. There's also massive internet advertising that they have to go through. I wonder how much all that costs? I know some app developers pay a pretty penny for advertisement, but not as widely as those that are big enough to make it to the consoles.
iPhone apps are significantly cheaper because they cost virtually nothing to make aside from the labor put into them. Yeah, it sucks if you put a lot of effort into something and have to lower your price to coax people into buying it, but if you have to do that JUST to get customers, then it wasn't really attractive to the average consumer anyway (which is the main and most wide target for 99% of app developers). iPhone app prices are perfectly fine where they are right now because, going back to my McDonald's analogy, if you offer something stupendous for a lower price (from 99 cents to $4.99-ish), you'll make a killing because that's what people want. THAT is what people will buy. Something quality (which is the word you seem to be neglecting) for an extremely reasonable cost.

 

Wow! That's a great big wall of text! If you press "enter," you can create paragraphs and your post will be easier to read. Just a suggestion.

But back to the topic at hand...
When you say "iPhone apps are significantly cheaper because they cost virtually nothing to make aside from the labor put into them," I would suspect that most indie developers would find that rather insulting. Developers can easily spend months working to create an app, and you are dismissing that out of hand. But, then again, you also think the McDonald's dollar menu is "great food for a lower price."

Basically, you are saying that you want a "stupendous" game for a really cheap price. Maybe a little bit of a reality check is in order here: developers who spend a great deal of time and energy creating a quality app expect to be paid for their time and effort. They deserve to be compensated fairly for their product. Unfortunately, once the "race to the bottom" began, it pretty much took on a life of its own. People now believe they are entitled to buy a great game for less than the cost of one of those high-quality hamburgers you are so fond of.

I am hoping that developers will somehow be able to stop the constant price drops, so that they will earn enough money that they will consider it profitable enough to continue to create apps for us. Many of us are tired of the constant whining about prices on this forum. I wish arn would create a separate section of the forum specifically for price whiners; all of the whiny posts can go into that section, and the rest of us can discuss games.

 

Hi,

CassieTheChaoticCupcake, this is not meant in a personal insult kind of way but, your posts in this thread are just totally hilarious.

I was always taught that if you do not know what you are talking about, learn the facts first, then talk, or keep your mouth shut.

David

 

You're COMPLETELY missing the point and I'm using examples. It's what people use to help someone understand something, but apparently you're still not getting it. The better the apps, regardless of cost, the larger the profit because so many people will be buying them out of the MILLIONS of iPhone, iPod touch, and ipad users. Someone could put out a pretty crappy app for 99cents and get a nice paycheck solely from people with curiosity. My point is, there's such a large amount of customers that a lower price won't really make a difference because what they lose in price value they make up for in an increase in sales. It's basic economics dear.
I'm tired of arguing my point. I know it makes sense. You don't. I'm agreeing to disagree and when I get my apps underway, they'll be no higher that $1.99 each.

 

You wouldn't be able to buy them because they don't have enough content!!!

In most cases iPhone games are stripped down ports of other games which validates the price.

When more developers make full games with plenty of content, then we can argue about pricing.

Oh and FYI, Ravensword was developed by 2 people.

 

You dun forgot the quality apps that barely sell 10 a week, like.

 

Really, no offense, but your point does NOT make sense. Take your head out of your ass, don't act like you're 100% right. Even if the developer is making one million a year of his app that he is selling for one dollar, now say that app is really worth TWO dollars. He WOULD be making two million. Don't say it doesn't make a difference as long as they are selling enough apps. Yea, maybe some people wouldn't but it because "oh my, TWO DOLLARS for a game, that's an outrage!", but that's because of PEOPLE LIKE YOU that won't quit yer bitching about app store pricing.