When Apple enabled app upgrades at the time it introduced the 3.0 iPhone operating system, they were very clear that paid in-app upgrades would only be possible in paid apps; free apps would remain free.

They have now changed their tune on that subject and are allowing developers to sell upgrades from inside their application, whether the original app was free or not. The move makes developers happier, since they are now able to develop a single upgradable version, instead of two apps like Widget Lite and Widget Complete, as has been the case with free apps in the past. Essentially, the old way required the user to make two trips to the App Store: one to download the “free” app and a second to purchase download the paid upgraded app, according to a PCWorld story.

Although this is a change in policy, it may be a good one for both developers and consumers. As noted above, it makes the job of the developer easier in almost all cases. And such a policy makes it easier on the consumer by saving the time of a second trip to the App Store to buy the upgraded app, making the  process more efficient. It is certainly a more expedient response to the situation of the free-to-paid upgrade. And, in some situations, it might allow a developer to “sell” a free framework application and then sell content based upon that framework.

At the same time, though, it increases the odds of app bait and switch situations, in which a glowing description is written of the ‘free’ app, which then turns out to require an upgrade to a paid app in order to be truly useful. Like so much else about the App Store and its approval process, this is an entirely subjective decision. It will not be possible to see who the real winners are until the new rules are in place for a while. One thing for sure, it opens a whole new can of worms for the folks at apple that approve or reject apps and their content. Then again, it seems that Apple has eaten a few worms as a part of this process already. Bon appétit!

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Entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 4:42 pm under Commercial Software, Free Apps, iPhone, iPod Touch.  Print This Post

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