08-21-2009, 12:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Microsoft Thinks Apps Worth More Than 99¢
"For many (if not most) iPhone developers, the App Store's overheated competition and bloated inventory have led to scorched-earth pricing that makes it virtually impossible to parlay mobile development into a valid for-profit business model without turning to subscriptions or in-app advertising.... "I know, 99 cents is interesting -- yes, consumers like to pay 99 cents for applications," admits Microsoft's Loke Uei, "but 99 cents, come on, I think your app is worth more than that." The Apple iPhone App store has been one of the things that has radically changed the mobile phone market, but as it grew to 50,000 apps or so, it was pretty obvious that there is just some crap in there. Sometimes less is more and a well maintained library is better and more useful than one that just has everything you can possibly throw in it. Microsoft apparently feels the same way and is going to try and keep the menu respectable and manageable. Do you think 99 cents is ok for the majority of apps, or should Microsoft encourage more reasonable price structures that would allow developers to make some money and make it worth their time to spend more energy on improving their apps.
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08-21-2009, 01:41 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 524
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Yeah they are but...
I'm not sure that matters. It doesn't seem to me like Microsoft is in a position to price high. They need to sell WinMo devices. If the developers are willing to sell their apps at .99 I think it's foolish of Microsoft to fight that. Inexpensive apps will help sell devices. People love being able to buy apps cheap on the iphone and selling a million at .99 will be better than 1000 at 4.99.
I just think Microsoft needs to do as much as possible as soon as possible before everyone switches to an iPhone, BlackBerry, Pre, or Android device.
Do they even have an app store that's easily accessible on WinMo devices? If so, then why can't I install it from "Windows Update" on my WinMo 6.1 phone? I just checked and it couldn't even connect to an update server this time. Whatever it is, they need to make it a simple and slick app like on the iphone. It won't be good enough if it's a web site.
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08-21-2009, 02:27 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 274
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Is MS actually dictating the price, or just encouraging devs to create quality applications and price accordingly? It seems everywhere this story has been reported on people are bashing MS, if I remember correctly the Marketplace allows developers to set their own price so ultimately its down to them how they value their work.
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Back to being The Last Windows Mobile Fanboy - now with a Dell Venue Pro!
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08-21-2009, 02:52 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 740
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An application, any application, is worth what buyers are willing to pay for it.
Trying to lure developers with this kind of statements seems naive to say the least.
MS should offer a platform that excite users, demand for apps would follow...
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08-21-2009, 03:32 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 274
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Exactly, if an application is priced too high by the developer and doesnt sell they can reduce the price. I dont see why MS encouraging profit for developers is being seen as bad, seems people now are so unwilling to pay for anything and want everything for free.
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Back to being The Last Windows Mobile Fanboy - now with a Dell Venue Pro!
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08-21-2009, 04:32 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,202
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The price per app should be irrelevant to the developer. What should be relevant is the total revenue it can generate. The developer doesn't have to work any harder (in the development & distribution cycles) to sell a million apps than he does to sell one - the beauty of digital goods. Many iPhone devs have made plenty of money selling at $.99, since that removes cost as a barrier for the customer. In truth app pricing is a key selling point that platform has. Seriously, I have bought several more apps for my iPhone than I ever have for WM because they are almost all less than $5.00, and it's like stopping to buy a cup of coffee, I don't even think about the cost.
When I drool over some of the new WM hardware coming out, I start to think about the cool apps I have on the iPhone that don't exist or are $20+ on WM, and stop myself. The total cost of ownership has tilted way in favor of Apple, and for Microsoft to encourage developers to charge more for their applications is not only wrong, it's moronic!
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08-21-2009, 05:25 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 740
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Quote:
Originally Posted by efjay
Exactly, if an application is priced too high by the developer and doesnt sell they can reduce the price. I dont see why MS encouraging profit for developers is being seen as bad, seems people now are so unwilling to pay for anything and want everything for free.
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Actually come out with a price and then lower it because buyers are not attracted is not a good business strategy in general.
I do not see anybody in this thread suggesting that everything should be free and a company profits are not generated solely by the markup on the single unit for sale; actually it is a little bit more complicated.
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08-21-2009, 08:19 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 214
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So, here we are with Microsoft in hand to hand combat with Apple over the smartphone market, and MS stupidly slashes their own wrists. Again.
"I can get an iPhone and there are thousands of apps I can get for 99 cents, or I can get a WinMo phone and spend $25 for a similar app".
There is only one reason Microsoft doesn't want to have software priced at 99 cents. Because their cut of the sale is measured in $0.xx, and they can't conceive of a way to turn that into a profit center. But people buy most apps on iPhones on impulse, not as long term "investments in productivity".
The people at Microsoft are completely unable to imagine that non-enterprise users don't like to spend money in large quantities. They do like to buy large quantities of stuff for very little money. They need to get with the program, or get out.
Microsoft's insistence that smartphones were simply a means of further marketing Microsoft Office, was what left the consumer market for mobile information devices wide open for Apple to come in with a consumer based touch screen device that is blowing them out of the market. Microsoft's crap mobile email, mobile web, mobile music, mobile media and mobile interface were only tolerable through pricey third party apps and free apps created by frustrated users.
I'm a getting-less-dedicated-every-day WinMo user who is really starting to root for Android getting its act together so it can blow WinMo out of the water (by the time I buy my next phone). Microsoft's feeble catch up attempts in the mobile market need to be euthanized to end its terminal cranial/rectal inversion disease.
The only things that stop me from buying an iPhone are AT&T's horrible 3G coverage in Southern California (CDMA rules here), and Apple's even more-fascist-than-Microsoft's business/tech philosophy.
Last edited by frankenbike; 08-21-2009 at 08:24 PM..
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08-21-2009, 10:55 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 3
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Let's say an app was $5 would you care? No one is saying $25 bucks come on! There are PLEANTY of apps for WMobile - Apple is stuck they cannot raise the prices. (Also the difference between Sprint all you can use plan and AT&T is $70 a month - or $840 a year - or $1,640 on a two year contract) GOT TO LOVE THAT iPONE you got!!! Way way to expensive for me!
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08-22-2009, 01:48 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 197
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Some apps currently on my phone:
SPB Mobile Shell $29.95
SoftMaker Office $79.95 (!!)
Copilot Live 8 $34.95
Obviously I think there are apps that are worth a lot more than $0.99 
These apps are well written, well supported, and extremely useful; well worth the money I've invested in them. If the standard were $0.99, I doubt they'd exist at all or, as suggested earlier, they'd be saddled with a _major_ "subscription" fee.
I prefer the basic capitalism approach: If people think the price is too high, they won't buy it.
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