Are iPad Apps too Expensive?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 11:48PM We used to pay hundreds of dollars for games and other consumer software. Apple changed all that with
the introduction of apps in iTunes for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and now the iPad. The typical price of an app was in fact free and paid apps had prices of $0.99 and apps going for $4.99 and $6.99 were considered expensive. I hear complaints now that iPad apps are way too expensive at $10 and this from people who make good money and think nothing of buying a coffee or a drink for that amount. Is this a case of Apple having been too successful at resetting our perception of price? With the announcement of iPhone OS 4.0 with its iAd platform, is Apple trying to reset the app price back to free and have app developers and Apple itself make money solely from advertising? Is everyone thinking that advertising is the only monetization strategy based on Google's success with it? Twitter even thinks so with their recent announcement, right? I prefer to buy my apps and think that I'm getting really good value if I get a really good game for $10. Remember that games on any other platform cost several fold that amount at least. What's your experience with this? I'd appreciate any thoughts you may have on this.
Reader Comments (5)
One of the problems with the pricing on the iPad platform is that there are very good apps that are free, like the news related apps, which puts the bar pretty low from a competition perspective. I think people gradually get over the "competition with free" hurdle, but only if the price is so low that it's practically free, like $4 and less. In those cases, it really is comparing the price of the app with a cup of coffee.
The problem with iPad apps that are around $10 or more is that now you're comparing free vs. two beers (or one at the Skydome), and that's a pretty big deal.
That being said, a full blown iPad app isn't really any different from a full application on Windows or MacOS, and so the ~$10 prices are probably very fair - I just don't think they will be successful at that price point.
I think the 99ยข apps were an interesting disruptive move, but ultimately undervalue the service received. There are tensions in different directions here. If an app is too expensive, people won't pay, or will buy illegal copies, or a competitor will easily undercut. If an app is too cheap, it will be difficult to recoup development and distribution costs, and it will not be valued.
I think we can look to the computer games market here -- computer games, too, are small-scale individual consumer software purchases directed to entertainment and lifestyle rather than business productivity. $10 is not a bad centre for a computer game -- a bit more for a new, cool, offering, and a bit less for older, superseded, nostalgic.
$10 is the cost of a computer game, a music CD, a movie on DVD, a paperback book, a train ticket into town, or two cups of coffee and a doughnut, and that's about the right level. You can't get much for the cost of a cup of coffee, except a cup of coffee.
I don't think $10 is expensive to anyones standard. I believe that people are complaining because they're used to getting an iPhone app fo $.99 which is only 1/10 of the price. People want to get iPhone apps for free of course.
Duncan Samuel
Scheduling System
hi.. i feel as apple has no competitor that's y there is monopoly..before people used to say ipad is costly but it justifies its price because apple has launched the new and innovative product and rest other will always be the followers.. there are lots of ipad apps available and i also feel they are highly priced..some apps are too costly to afford ...i don't know about rest others but atleast i can't spend $40 on one app..
photo sharing ipad
I don't think $10 for an iPad game is too expensive at all but I think you have to look at the price in relation to the prices of other games. Regular console and PC games almost have a fixed price range between $50 and $70 and we have grown accustomed to paying those prices. I think the reason people feel $10 is expensive for an iPad game is because there are so many cheap games to choose from.