Good news for game developers and people who hate “Lite” iPhone apps: Apple is now allowing purchases directly from within free apps. This feature was previously allowed only for paid apps.
Certainly the decision will affect anyone who develops a “Lite” app that has less features than the paid version, as it’ll let them combine both into a single download. But my mind jumps straight to gaming, which could see a rush of apps with paid microtransactions to unlock extra content or features.
Consider, for example, an MMORPG. Apple’s decision will allow developers to adopt a free-to-play model, charging players for extra items or abilities. Some games, such as Mafia Wars, were already doing this by having players purchase entirely new app for their upgrades, with their stats preserved. But the new solution is much more elegant, as it allows people to keep playing with minimal interruption, and without scrapping the app they already have.
That makes me wonder, what will the economy of iPhone microtransactions look like? If buying small bits of content is going to be a lot easier, I’d expect there to be a lot more of it, except for one snag: The iPhone economy is already dirt-cheap. The majority of iPhone apps are free, and the average price of a paid game, according to a recent study, is $2.50. People aren’t exactly throwing around fistfulls of money on the App Store, so even a handful of $1 microtransactions in a single game could be a tough sell.
I doubt that transactions for less than $1 would be allowed, but I think the cleverest free-to-play game developers will find a way to break it down. Perhaps they could sell credits, $1 at a time, that let you download a handful of in-game items. However they work it out, microtransactions will have to get extremely micro to thrive in the App Store.




As the iPhone and iPod Touch look more like portable gaming platforms, I haven’t tired of watching Sony and Nintendo flail. They’re like two incumbent political parties having identity crises in the face of a new competitor who’s
Expanding unlimited calling to off-network phone numbers is one of the wireless industry’s newest ways to attract customers. Alltel was one of the first major carriers with its My Circle (which now has been rolled over to Verizon Wireless with the merger, called “Friends & Family”), then T-Mobile followed with myFaves. Sprint’s also doing something with “Any Mobile, Anytime” on select plans.
Man, we’re getting so close to having Apple as a real contender in the handheld game console wars, I can feel it.
It’s not full-fledged multitasking, but Loopt will be the first third-party app to send out information even when you’re not actively using it.
Remember in March, when Sony Senior Marketing Vice President Peter Dille
Sony continues to insist that it’s not competing with the iPhone on gaming, even though the opposite is increasingly becoming true.
A game programmer is getting mouthy about the Wii, saying that an iPhone is more powerful for gaming.
In the same way that Booyah Society is rooting for me, I’m really hoping the new iPhone app can do better than it has.
After Apple
Accelerometers and a touch screen have their place in iPhone games, but when a classic like Mega Man 2 has its gameplay
A
AT&T is trying to make the case for exclusive deals for phones, saying they “stimulate” innovation. Yes, you heard that right: by sticking it to the consumer and forcing them to a certain carrier, we’re enjoying innovative products. I’m not exactly following this, and neither is Capitol Hill either.






By Jared Newman | Posted at 9:27 am on Friday, October 16, 2009
2 Comments