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Coming changes to Apple's App Store

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Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#111

Post by vitd »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #34
AlexandrB wrote: post #20

As someone who buys a lot of apps this is very disappointing. Things that would make me buy MORE apps (demos, upgrade pricing, better support) are still not in the app store, meanwhile the one pricing model I detest (subscriptions) is being added. I suspect I'll be buying far fewer apps if there's a mass movement from a purchase model to a subscription model among app developers. I'm perfectly happy to pay $20-30 for…

>> "Things that would make me buy MORE apps" Why do you need MORE apps? I'm a developer and heavy iPhone user and it rare for me to download apps these days. I browse the store regularly just to check out what's going on but most new apps provide little use. They let me make my face look phone. Share emojis created by reality stars. etc. I think this move will lead to higher quality apps. Developers will be able to i…

There are a number of reasons:

1) Some apps have a limited life span - games, for example, or apps specific to an event (like the SIGGRAPH or GDC apps)

2) Some apps have bugs that you don't encounter until you use a particular function

3) Some apps stop being updated and you need more functionality than they offer.

4) You have a new need you didn't have before so you need a new app or apps to fulfill it

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#112

Post by rstupek »

bitL wrote: post #102
st3v3r wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Frankly, with computers we have a chance to break natural constraints on availability but companies seem to be hell bent on reintroducing the same stinky approaches from the past. Why?" Because I want to buy food and pay rent.

How does it help you if your potential customers avoid your software like a plague? Subscriptions border on restricting somebody's financial freedom. Imagine your plumber was forcing you to pay yearly for once/here and there using their services?

I think its more analogous to your water/waste company who you pay monthly for them to remove your waste from your house. The provide an ongoing service, you don't get to pay a one time fee for it. Subscriptions provide a way for apps that have an ongoing support component to be paid for that instead of using ads.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#113

Post by yoodenvranx »

chasing wrote: post #35
AlexandrB wrote: post #20

As someone who buys a lot of apps this is very disappointing. Things that would make me buy MORE apps (demos, upgrade pricing, better support) are still not in the app store, meanwhile the one pricing model I detest (subscriptions) is being added. I suspect I'll be buying far fewer apps if there's a mass movement from a purchase model to a subscription model among app developers. I'm perfectly happy to pay $20-30 for…

I think the mindset change that needs to happen is this: Apps are a service. I would actually prefer to pay developers of apps that are truly useful to me a monthly amount so I know they can continue to update and improve the app. If an app saves me $1000/yr in headache, I'd prefer to spend $30/yr on a subscription rather than lose the app entirely because the developers can't keep the lights on.

> Apps are a service.

So each month we are now going to pay for Netflix, Spotify, Dropbox, Github, Amazon Prime and a bunch of apps...

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#114

Post by xufi »

johansch wrote: post #77

I guess these are the kind of innovations we can look forward to while Cook is running Apple. :/

I have to say I agree. I didn't even think they would think of modeling the store this way, though granted what they've done with Itunes/Apple Music I guess it isnt that surprising. Pretty disappoined

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#115

Post by sotojuan »

overcast wrote: post #39

Am I the only one exhausted by "apps"? I've gone as far as to limit myself to only two pages worth on my phone, without folders. I feel like most apps could just be the mobile/responsive versions of the existing site. Maintaining separate interfaces always leads to inconsistencies.

If Apple supported the latest standards in mobile Safari, you could write web apps that work offline and have push notifications like on Android. That's not in Apple's interest though.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#116

Post by AlexandrB »

zippergz wrote: post #76
AlexandrB wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that Apple is now encouraging subscription pricing by dropping their cut to 15% in the second year. This is going to incentivize more apps to go to a subscription model if they can.

The good part of this is that it should strongly incentivize developers to make sure their subscribers are happy. Otherwise they won't make it to the second year.

I think that's only partially true. While Apple promised that there will be an easy way to manage subscriptions, at least some users will just forget that they've subscribed to something and will continue to be charged regardless of whether they are even using the app. This is especially true if they have a mix of intended subscriptions and small unintended ones.

This is part of the time-honored business model for places like fitness clubs.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#117

Post by MBCook »

kbenson wrote: post #52
mrdrozdov wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apps have existed with subscriptions long before now. I suspect you will still be able to buy a flashlight app for a fixed price, but maybe you'll subscribe to Hulu through Apple rather than Hulu's backend.

As someone who signed up for HBO Now and Pandora through Google's Play service in exactly this manner, I imagine this is the reason they are adding it. It's very easy. The one downside I encountered is that when my card changed and billing failed, it automatically unsubscribed me after what appeared to be a single failure, and I had to sign back up after adding my new card. That looks to be an implementation problem…

That already exists in the app store.

What's new is for someone who makes a Twitter client to be able to say "You can buy TweetMaster17000, but it's a subscription that totals $6 a year. That way I can afford to continually update it for existing users."

That's not a bad thing, but it may be a hard sell to many users.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#118

Post by adamlett »

post_break wrote: post #79
salmonet wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been very pleased with the subscription experience on the App Store. The reason I usually hate subscriptions is that they are a headache remember, changing credit cards requires me to remember and update subscriptions in many different places, and providers make it hard to cancel. My experience with subscriptions on iOS has been very positive. It's easy to pay for and easy to cancel. Personally, I would rather p…

A simple trial period like Androids 2 hour window would avoid all of this subscription nonsense for your last point.

How do you evaluate the equivalent of say Photoshop or IntelliJ IDEA in 2 hours? Especially if you're new to that category of software?

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#119

Post by MBCook »

post_break wrote: post #79
salmonet wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been very pleased with the subscription experience on the App Store. The reason I usually hate subscriptions is that they are a headache remember, changing credit cards requires me to remember and update subscriptions in many different places, and providers make it hard to cancel. My experience with subscriptions on iOS has been very positive. It's easy to pay for and easy to cancel. Personally, I would rather p…

A simple trial period like Androids 2 hour window would avoid all of this subscription nonsense for your last point.

It's not nonsense, it's useful.

Right now you get problems like Tweetbot. It costs money to maintain Tweetbot and keep it working, and to add new features. I use it every day, I'd be happy to 'subscribe' to it.

As it is now they only get paid when I buy the app. If I keep using it for 4 years I may still expect support but they're not getting additional income.

If you don't have enough growth to sustain you, what people have to do is release a new version of the app. Maybe it's a big upgrade (like Tweetbot has done) but some companies basically arbitrarily decide "This one is new, pay again".

And even though Tweetbot is great they lose money because people who are addicted to the app don't want to pay another $2. And they spam the rating for the app with 1-star ratings.

For apps that need constant maintenance? This seems like a great idea.

Re: Coming changes to Apple's App Store

#120

Post by djrogers »

wlesieutre wrote: post #41
dapearce wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about $0.99/mo, or even $0.49/mo? My initial reaction is the same as yours, but I could see myself agreeing to $0.99/mo for some of the apps I paid $2 or $3 for. Still relatively cheap for me but would dramatically increase income for the developer.

$0.49/month is $6/year. If I thought an app was worth $2, I'm absolutely not willing to pay that much for it. If you're talking about an app that's a major part of your workflow for something, maybe this makes sense. But most of the apps that I've paid $2-$5 on are things that I'm only likely to fire up occasionally when I need them. Monthly fee to mark up photos or scan papers with the camera? I'll pass.

> $0.49/month is $6/year. If I thought an app was worth $2, I'm absolutely not willing to pay that much for it.

I honestly can't think of a single paid app that I use that I don't think is worth more than $2 to purchase forever. If there's an app I won't use often but professionals would use daily for years (say a house measurement app while I'm shipping for a house) I'm happy to pay .99 or 1.99 for the month or two that I'm using it, and simply unsubscribe when I no longer have a need for it. The real estate professionals that rely on the app however can pay that in perpetuity and get a better app out of the deal since it's actually making the developer money every month.

On the other hand, for an app I use every day (say Overcast) I'd be happy to pay a subscription price for monthly/quarterly/yearly use of it.

I think this will have 2 positive effects - 1) developers can be incented and paid for keeping their apps current and improved 2) the 'top paid' areas of the app store will be strongly indicative of quality, as the more people are willing to pay recurring costs for an app, the more likely it is to be good (games probably fall in a different category, but I don't do much gaming these days).

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