App subscriptions on the way

knewspeak

Everything is rental, even the body you wear so well. Real question is, what is it's worth.

crouchie

Well finally someone has had an idea that will stop me buying every bloody app going. Thank you ;-)

Nu2moro

I am happy to contribute to app development with in app purchases, update etc. Is this just a scheme to put even more money into the super rich Apple execs and share holders :-(
We pay well over the odds for the products Apple supply and now we face legal blackmail! Who is going to want to buy an Apple device if that's the way they intend going?

u0421793

From a game theory point of view (ah, but which game?) I would predict a few trends:
1. People won’t be buying as many apps as hitherto. This may be a good thing for many people, we all have too many apps, but manufacturers could miss out on the background level of random drunken purchasing that exists now.
2. People will consider and think about and plan their purchases, and expect considerably more when they finally commit to a purchase. Manufacturers are going to get a lot of stick when anything goes incorrectly or uncomfortably, rather than as now, a bit of a shouting at and then everything’s forgotten.
3. The amount of manufacturers will narrow down to a few that are favoured by the people, and all else will fall away. Maybe those few will be companies like Korg, Propellerhead, Moog etc, maybe independent organisations like the Audioshare and Auria and iVCS3 manufacturers. I think this will happen because of number 1, leading to people spending a lot more time relying on reviews and visibility instead, and this will lead to a trap whereby with the demise of record shops the only CDs carried by supermarkets are those in the top 50, and the only ones that get into the top 50 are those that are already on the shelf.

wim

@gonekrazy3000 said:

Keep in mind cost of living is different in other parts of the world. But cost of apps remain the same. You can actually eat for an entire day here (in India) for less than a 2$. I run a snack shop. My staff gets paid around 110$ a month. So while 3-4$ might seem inconsequential to you guys it's not always the case.

This is a very good point to keep in mind, though I'm not sure what can be done about it unless Apple allowed country-specific pricing. Do they?

@gonekrazy3000, maybe you should put your staff to work coding iOS apps.

lovadamusic

I don't see anything dire. There may be a few apps I like that I won't want to subscribe to, but life would go on. Unless Apple forces every dev to adopt a subscription model, and there is NO suggestion of that anywhere I've seen, every app developer today can continue selling their product no different than ever before. Maybe some would do even better, as customers prefer them over having to pay a subscription.

Kaikoo2

Wishing Scribd coming to iOS music,

all music apps $10 a month subscription plan.

No more 'RUIS' initial public offering.

No more apps market, just London, Chicago, Berlin, Dublin and Wolfsburg stay for play.

Cool 5 beans.

u0421793

How would a person react if an app was a small amount of money to begin with, and then each time it were used for any significant period of time, or more precisely, each time it were used for a time and then (somehow, to be figured out later) had a file save or an audio export or a midi connect resulting in audio connecting to elsewhere, i.e., evidence it is actually being put to use rather than merely noodling or rather than learning and exploring (which both the consumer and manufacturer should ideally want to be free — it’s how we all learned Photoshop Illustrator in the old days and Adobe knew that piracy was key to people adopting the app through learning to use it then getting jobs requiring it).

null____void

@u0421793 said:
How would a person react if an app was a small amount of money to begin with, and then each time it were used for any significant period of time, or more precisely, each time it were used for a time and then (somehow, to be figured out later) had a file save or an audio export or a midi connect resulting in audio connecting to elsewhere, i.e., evidence it is actually being put to use rather than merely noodling or rather than learning and exploring (which both the consumer and manufacturer should ideally want to be free — it’s how we all learned Photoshop Illustrator in the old days and Adobe knew that piracy was key to people adopting the app through learning to use it then getting jobs requiring it).

That last bit is heresy. Or blasphemy.

BiancaNeve

I seem to recall that Microsoft were pretty soft on piracy way back when excel was the new kid on the block to lotus 123.