Big news for the iPhone app developers. In a recent mail sent to the app developers, Apple has announced that In-App purchasing shall now be available on free apps as well.
This news can potentially change the way the App Store operates today and is something that will see the launch of freemium applications on the Apple App Store.
In-App purchasing was hitherto restricted only to paid apps. However, this was a highly restrictive model as the iPhone app developers were not able to let their users check a basic version of the app, which is essentially a demo before putting their money for more value adding features. As a result, most apps were launched with a 'lite' version that was basically free. Users who liked the lite version could then go ahead and purchase the paid version from the App Store which was basically a different app altogether.
This would help in reducing the clutter on the iPhone App Store by a great deal as this would eliminate the need to create lite version of an iPhone app. They could simply plug the In-App Purchase API into their free app for users to directly upgrade to the paid version of the iPhoen app and unlock the restricted features. This will also play a vital role in reducing piracy of iPhone apps. A major percent of iPhone users downloading pirated apps mainly do so to demo the app before a purchase - but only 0.43% of them end up buying them. A freemium model will thus go a long way in reducing piracy of iPhone apps.
The In-App purchase would impact the iPhone apps that thrive on the sale of virtual goods. Users of Tap Tap Revenge would realize how the company was forced to release a paid version of their iPhone app simply in order to sell new songs.
This is exciting news for the iPhone app developers and we hope they follow this up by offering demo version of their iPhone apps so that iPhone users can check them out before buying the paid version.
How do you think this news will impact the apps on your iPhone? Do you think a freemium version is easier from a user's perspective than the lite and paid model? Please do let us know your opinions.
[via MacRumors]
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This is an excellent idea, as i have bought so many apps in the past only to find out they are crap!!
Horrible idea! The reason apple didn't allow this in the first place was to give the consumer the best app possible. With this, developers could put a two minute restriction on the lite version and then say by the full version now! Trial periods are horrible and the main reason they didn't do it in the first place, giving the consumer the choice if they want to test out the app rather than developers hopping people off! Also, lite sounds better than trial! Boo Apple! This makes me, the consumer, mad!
I think u mean developers jipping people off! I agree then! Bad decision Apple!
Shareware has entered the iPhone platform. Oh God what a ride this will be.