Ask HN: App Store developers -- do you prefer Paid or Free+IAP?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7160076

by jmduke • 12 years ago

6 4 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm creating a simple app for an under-addressed App Store niche (more as a way to learn iOS development than anything else) and I've spent the past few weeks going back and forth between going paid (likely $2.99) or free+IAP (it's essentially modular content, so I'd be giving around half the content away for free and then groups of additional content for $.99-$1.99). I've read a lot about free+IAP being the way to go but a surprising amount of top-grossing Apps that aren't Games/Social are paid-up-front.

jordsmi• 12 years ago

I feel like it depends on the niche. IAP is the way to go for games or something with a broad audience that will deal with lots of pirating. If its more for a certain community who will gladly pay for it then I'd go with paid.

danellis• 12 years ago

I don't like the bait-and-switch games, but I recently downloaded Avia for free and paid for the Chromecast feature. That seemed like a good use of IAP.

tagabek• 12 years ago

If you're making an app for a niche audience (ie. Bird Watching Enthusiasts), make it paid. These are people that are very excited about their interest and would be happy to give you $2.99 for an app that supports it. I would even consider raising the price to $4.99+.

If your niche is something that helps people save or make money, charge a lot more.

jankins• 12 years ago

One idea is it might not necessarily be either/or -- I'd suggest that you first release one version, whichever payment model your gut is pulling you toward. Wait until you have some data, maybe 4-6 months of sales history. If sales are gangbusters, maybe you'll feel that you've already got the right sales model. If you have a hunch that sales could be better and that a different sales model may be a major driver of additional revenue, you can release another version under the opposite payment model, and observe what happens to overall sales.

Personally I've preferred the Paid model. I have one app in the store, and the main driver of revenue increase has come from delivering updates which give more value to the user, and increasing the price accordingly (monthly revenue is up 8x on average since a major update & a price increase from 2.99 to 8.99). I haven't taken my own advice above yet, though I have built the IAP version -- I haven't released it yet because so far other experiments have been effective in increasing sales and less risky. I recall Marco Arment mentioned a major source of revenue increase for Instapaper was when he killed the free version. [1]

[1] http://www.marco.org/2011/04/28/removed-instapaper-free

Ask HN: App Store developers -- do you prefer Paid or Free+IAP?

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