How in-app purchase has broken the App-store
Is it just me, or does the app development industry appear to have taken on pusher tactics?
"Here, try some coke...the first one is free!"
My first iPhone was the iPhone 3GS. Back then many apps existed on the app-store in two versions: a free "light" version that you could try out with limited abilities or supported by ads. And then the full version, you could buy once you were convinced that the app was what you wanted.
Later came family sharing. Now you could buy an app once and share it with your family.
But lately it seems that almost all apps are "free". Only they are of course not - you have to purchase the full version from within the app. There goes family sharing down the drain
It's even worse with games. Most games on the App Store are terrible. The experience is something like this: you download the game. Don't worry - it's free! Then you play for 5 minutes. Then you watch an ad. Then you have to wait for 30 minutes, 1 hour or whatever. Then you can again play for 5 minutes. Of course there is a way around the waiting issue...you can buy smurf berries, gold, diamonds or whatever fictitious currency for real money. Ok, so I buy 20$ worth of fictitious currency and the waiting stops, right? Well, for a couple of hours maybe, then they want more. In reality these kind of games will cost well over 1000 of dollars to play!!
The crappy thing about this business model is that the user doesn't know what a game or an app actually costs. So how can this be fixed? The best thing would be if Apple would fix it. They should create the ability to have 2 possible downloads of each app (a free try-it-version and a paid version). Then they should disallow in-app purchases unless it makes sense for your app (e.g. Navigation app could allow you to buy additional maps/countries or newspaper apps could char per article or for subscription). But since Apple's services business (Apple Music, Apple Pay and App Store) is making a LOT of money, this might not happen.
Instead I propose to anybody that (like me) is sick and tired of this in-app-rip-off-the-customers-model to just STOP making in-app purchases!
"Here, try some coke...the first one is free!"
My first iPhone was the iPhone 3GS. Back then many apps existed on the app-store in two versions: a free "light" version that you could try out with limited abilities or supported by ads. And then the full version, you could buy once you were convinced that the app was what you wanted.
Later came family sharing. Now you could buy an app once and share it with your family.
But lately it seems that almost all apps are "free". Only they are of course not - you have to purchase the full version from within the app. There goes family sharing down the drain
It's even worse with games. Most games on the App Store are terrible. The experience is something like this: you download the game. Don't worry - it's free! Then you play for 5 minutes. Then you watch an ad. Then you have to wait for 30 minutes, 1 hour or whatever. Then you can again play for 5 minutes. Of course there is a way around the waiting issue...you can buy smurf berries, gold, diamonds or whatever fictitious currency for real money. Ok, so I buy 20$ worth of fictitious currency and the waiting stops, right? Well, for a couple of hours maybe, then they want more. In reality these kind of games will cost well over 1000 of dollars to play!!
The crappy thing about this business model is that the user doesn't know what a game or an app actually costs. So how can this be fixed? The best thing would be if Apple would fix it. They should create the ability to have 2 possible downloads of each app (a free try-it-version and a paid version). Then they should disallow in-app purchases unless it makes sense for your app (e.g. Navigation app could allow you to buy additional maps/countries or newspaper apps could char per article or for subscription). But since Apple's services business (Apple Music, Apple Pay and App Store) is making a LOT of money, this might not happen.
Instead I propose to anybody that (like me) is sick and tired of this in-app-rip-off-the-customers-model to just STOP making in-app purchases!
