iCombat

As I think about a price for my new app the question I keep struggling with is just how exactly does pricing affect user buying patterns.  Apple’s frictionless purchasing process, where the vast majority of app store users already have a credit card on file, allows for painless one quick purchasing and has quickly made $1 dollar the new free.  The question becomes though, where is it that the user begins to think twice?  $2, $3 or maybe $5?  From my point of view there seem to be 5 major types of application in the App store right now that make embody the current pricing trends:

1. “Crapware” – cheap to make in terms of time and resources.  Targeted by both experienced and inexperienced developers.  Business model is either ad supported or sell for $0.99.
2. Full fledged apps by amateur developers – more elaborate design and execution by part time developers.  Attempting to create a full game experience with iShoot and Trism being good examples.  Business model is pay model with prices between the $1 and $5 range.
3. Full apps by funded start-ups – professional developers focused on higher quality games.  Here we have iBowl by the Social Gaming Network for example.  Quality of applications is high, business model is anything under the sun (to see one of the more creative examples check out Toy Bot’s $10k giveaway marketing strategy)
4. Professionally produced games – major studios like Sega or EA using teams of developers to leverage the iPhone platform.  Business model is selling games for $5+, probably closer to $10.  A good example is Spore.
5. Specialty “niche” apps – made by professional iPhone development companies for specialized purposes.  Usually sell for $10+ or have a lite version that functions as an extension of existing brand.

I know from personal experience that by the time I am paying $5 I expect something pretty damn good.  And not because it is a lot of money but because there are THOUSANDS of apps that cost much less, if anything at all that I could have chosen instead.  Barry Schwartz calls this the paradox of choice, and describes how our consumptive experiences can be poisoned by our awareness of the fact that so many other options exist.  Maybe this is why there are so many angry reviews of the more expensive apps; not only are users spoiled by the free apps in the store but they are pissed off when they make what they perceive to be the wrong choice.  So where does this leave us?

While I understand the current strategy of using price as the sole tool to spur demand, the ideal solution would be to create a more efficient discovery process for the user where they can try before they buy – thus allowing a larger purchase to be less of a gamble.  For now I plan to focus on the middle pricing range, making sure to deliver good value to my users while resisting the temptation to fall to the lowest pricing point to spur demand.

iPhone Usage Patterns by Pinch Media

Techcrunch is out with a new post today addressing the pricing dilemma, where they offer Pinch Media’s data on application usage over time as evidence that free apps are not the way to go.  According to Erick Schonfeld “for all but the most successful apps, the free route does not make much sense because there is not enough time to recoup the costs of developing the app from advertising.”  This is because the data suggests that only 20% of users return the SECOND day after downloading and only 5% of users return by day 30.  So it is easy to see why even with high online CPM rates you would still not have much time to recoup your investment.  Of course if you can create the application in an hour then maybe it still makes sense but current trends suggest that the market for simple apps is also getting more competitive.  If there are 20 free versions of a level in the app store then odds are it is not going to be that easy to rise above the noise.  See some great slides from Pinch Media’s CEO Greg Yardley below:

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