Android Community

Hmm, I wonder how the "adult" apps compared in price, oh wait thats right they're not allowed on the iphone.

Given that I went from an iPhone to a blackberry to another blackberry (using the store when it came out), and now the myTouch -- I think the Android apps are the best. Most are free and they are EXTREMELY useful.

Not only are most free, but most can be found..thus making them free even if they're paid. [I won't release site names or hints because of the fact they're not legal. Just buy apps and refund them if they're not good enough or you don't like em]

^ sheeesh why even suggest that?

the good ones are all free, i've only paid for one app, Bloo, and I uninstalled after 1 day

That's the good part about Android. We can buy an app and be refunded [for the most part].

Is that possible w/ iphone?

If people don't pay for apps, then developers won't have much of an incentive to make them.

If you can pay $200 for a phone, you can afford $2 for a good app. I like a lot of the free ones, and appreciate them, but I'd rather pay $1 then have banner ads running in the app, but that's just me.

I think there was always a demand for apps. I remember when I had a palm treo -- i really wished there was one place to find all the apps. It was called the web at the time Now it's simply organized neatly by categories, and accessible from the mobile phone.

for me it depends the app/game. Like if the ad takes up a certain part of the screen that i need
or if its a touch game and the ad can get in the way when i wanna touch something near it. then i'd feel compelled to buy the full or pay SOMETHING

Then the Washington's analysis is completely wrong. The reason prices are lower for the iPhone is because the sales volume is far, far lower on the Android market. No commercial developers can be sustained on both low volume and low prices. The model is impossible to make work.

Until users of the Android market start buying more applications, prices will remain high; if not continue to rise. The current model also waves away would-be developers who are otherwise interested in the platform. Add the fact piracy is rampant on the platform, it certainly isn't helping the user base or the developers.

As sales increase on the market the prices will likely fall. Developers are more than happy to make a profit on volume but at this time, a volume pricing model is simply impossible for all but a handful (less than a dozen) of applications.

The author also seems to miss the fact that Android applications can do a lot more than iPhone applications can. With these extra capabilities comes a much more complex application life cycle. With this more complex life cycle comes more code and more complexity. With more code comes more testing and more time between releases. This in turn demands high prices for additional work. This fact adds an additional variable which the iPhone simply does not have at this time.

I completely agree about the banner part, but it depends. If it's a game, ehhh. If it's an utility (like kill app), that I use all the time, I have gone out of my way to contact the developer to ask for a paid version so that I don't have to deal with the add. In general, $1 for "any app" and $2 for a "ok-good" app, and $3 for a really good one is perfectly okay in my mind.

well I'm still trying to get my money back from Bloo, I don't want to give my money for something that didn't work. It would be much better to allow for a trial period that would charge you after so many days of use if you decide to keep it.

Speaking about refunds, does anyone have the official word on how they work? Is it any time? If so, that's great for customers and terrible for developers. I think fair would be a 15 day period or something like that. Either way, it's great that you can refund. I actually prefer not dealing w/ a trial and just being able to get the full app (free or paid), and then if I don't like it get rid of it.