In-App-Purchases are cool…or not?

Over the last few days I came across a few games I wanted to try somehow. I switched over to the AppStore and thought, like so many times before, ‘mjaaaaa…sounds good somehow but I think I won’t spend money on it just now’. It was one of these moments where I know that it’s probably not the right’Snack’ for my brain at that moment. So, I make a note to rethink the App someday later.

But…this time around it was a bit different: Gravity Sling and Eliminate got my attention and both are free with a limited set of levels or play time. Basically these are the free trial-versions we’ve been waiting for since day one. So I grabbed both and tried them. More Levels or play time can be purchased from inside each game as an In-App-Purchase. So, I played as far as I could…I liked both games and…didn’t buy anything afterwards. Why? Well, just because I had enough for the moment afterwards. But the games still reside on my iPhone and surely enough, whenever I like to play some I wont start looking around on the AppStore but play the games I allready have and like.

So, under the line I think IAP are a great mechanism to get the foot in the door at customers. People are free to try the App as long as they like and can enhance it if the need more levels, playtime, ammo, cars…whatever. On the other hand, People who don’t like it will probably give the App one of the infamous 1-Star ratings just because they were “tricked” into downloading the app and now “wasted valuable amounts of their lifetime” (I actually read this in one rating once…was a rating for a free(!) movie!). I don’t know what you think about app-reviews by users on the AppStore but I think they should be eliminated…but that’s another story!

I for one really like the mechanism behind IAPs very much and I’m happy to see it is becoming more and more adopted by developers. I’m thinking about it myself but right now I don’t see any of my apps suitable for IAPs…but maybe in the future…

What are your thoughts on this? Are IAPs cool or not? How would you like to have it? Share in the comments…

Happy Birthday, AppStore!

It’s been almost a year now since the AppStore opened up it’s doors and literally flooded the iPhone- and iPod-Touch-Users with new apps for their devices. Some of them where not soooo good, some of them made people furious but some really hit it big and became popular blockbusters. Anyway, one year and over 50.000 apps later one thing is for sure: The AppStore was that best that could’ve happened to the iPhone-/iPod-Community!

And so we’d like join in as well and say: Happy Bithday, AppStore!

The case of the stolen fingerprints

As many of you have probably noticed, something called Gary Fung stole all the images, sounds and text of TouchScan, copied the look and feel as well as Icon and Name, added a “Pro” to the end and started selling it.

People think it’s a superior verion to the original TouchScan and hence buy it. When they see that it’s hardly working, they come back complaing…and the come back to ME! That’s great! The app is crashing a lot, you can enter two results (yes, he copied the settings-dialogs as well) but the app can use just one…go figure! That’s what the thief Gary Fung calls “the best deal for my customers”. Problem is, I get the support mails!

Anyway, ars technica wrote about it and scammer Gay Fung seems to be scared enough to have replied at once, again saying he didn’t do anything wrong. So, Mr. Fung, let’s get this straight: You stole from me and that is against the law anywhere on this planet!

(Deutsch) Kleine und große Katastrophen

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.

We are here to stay

Tonight I received an e-mail from Apple stating that my Developer Contract will be extended until July 11th, exactly 1 year after the opening of the AppStore! They say it’s in appreciation of my participation in the beta developer program. Nice turn, if you ask me.

And, finally, they say that beginning of may the contracts of all developers can be renewed for another year. So…we will be able to continue our work and continue to support all of you! :-) And remember: If you like our software, spread the word (ie. by writing a review in iTunes). If you don’t like our software, tell us! Only then we are able to improve it for you! :-)