I've been thinking about my likes / dislikes of the current App Store setup, and while an undeniable success spawning number copies I have to say that there is one area where the system falls down (for me at least).
I think part of the success of the App Store has to be because you have to purchase a full App just to see if you want / like it. For example I have 5 different RSS Feed Readers listed against my iTunes account, but only one resides on the phone. This is because despite the reviews, the stars and the picture gallery there is no other way of finding out if an App works for you.
I have seen that there are a number of developers offering "Lite" versions of their App's (primarily games that I've seen) at a free or discounted price to allow you to effectively try the game before purchasing the full version. This method helps to provide a solution. However this just inflates the number of active App's available, and the number of downloads when the full App is then downloaded.
I have seen the March Event video demonstrating the iPhone 3.0 OS and was intrigued by the section where "Live Fire" was demoed. The option to purchase an extra gun for a FPS game does not fill me with confidence that it's a good idea. This way all the rich kids would have bigger guns and the rest of us will suffer (read as "lose") because of it. Still none the less, it did show off the feature pretty well.
However, I'm thinking longer term here. The way the store will evolve. I would like to see developers developing full Apps which we download as a trial (built in restrictions / time limits / etc.), and then unlock by purchasing right off the device if we like them.
Think Xbox Live Arcade. It works well for them, and we know that the App is only downloaded once, rather than one for the trial and then another for the full App.
Looking at all angles, I think that Apple themselves would be happy with this as they will still be able to take their 30% when the App is unlocked.
What do you guys think?
Have I overlooked a fairly obvious reason why this can't be the case?
Do you think this is Apple's intention and they are purposefully promoting it in a different way so as not to seem like they are copying Xbox Live Arcade?
Are you a developer, what do you think?
I think part of the success of the App Store has to be because you have to purchase a full App just to see if you want / like it. For example I have 5 different RSS Feed Readers listed against my iTunes account, but only one resides on the phone. This is because despite the reviews, the stars and the picture gallery there is no other way of finding out if an App works for you.
I have seen that there are a number of developers offering "Lite" versions of their App's (primarily games that I've seen) at a free or discounted price to allow you to effectively try the game before purchasing the full version. This method helps to provide a solution. However this just inflates the number of active App's available, and the number of downloads when the full App is then downloaded.
I have seen the March Event video demonstrating the iPhone 3.0 OS and was intrigued by the section where "Live Fire" was demoed. The option to purchase an extra gun for a FPS game does not fill me with confidence that it's a good idea. This way all the rich kids would have bigger guns and the rest of us will suffer (read as "lose") because of it. Still none the less, it did show off the feature pretty well.
However, I'm thinking longer term here. The way the store will evolve. I would like to see developers developing full Apps which we download as a trial (built in restrictions / time limits / etc.), and then unlock by purchasing right off the device if we like them.
Think Xbox Live Arcade. It works well for them, and we know that the App is only downloaded once, rather than one for the trial and then another for the full App.
Looking at all angles, I think that Apple themselves would be happy with this as they will still be able to take their 30% when the App is unlocked.
What do you guys think?
Have I overlooked a fairly obvious reason why this can't be the case?
Do you think this is Apple's intention and they are purposefully promoting it in a different way so as not to seem like they are copying Xbox Live Arcade?
Are you a developer, what do you think?
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