App Prices
 

Following on from another thread i had said how i thought the £3 price mark on the level pack 1 for Angry bird was a joke. i hate to compare but my friend got the app for 59p on his iphone for the complete game. this is 3 level packs which seems like it will cost us £6
Now i understand economics of scale as Rob1n suggested, there isnt as many people on the n900 so they up the price but this is a %900 increase.

Are people willing to pay this for apps? Are all commercial apps just going to be the biggest rip off on the n900.I understand that the open source means that we get a lot for free as well. A

Are we not trying to encourage commercial developers to the phone as it seems we are in a bit of a catch 22.
Not as many people on the phone so apps are expensive but could you not argue that people will shy away from the phone thinking the apps are too expensive.
i think Nokia are going to ave troubles balancing the free apps with commercial apps


ysss has just said that the 59p was actually an offer and that the real price is $1.99, my friend failed to point that out to me :).

This isnt a complaint thread i am just interested in whether you think this is going to be the trend with commercial apps on the n900.

Re: App Prices
 

Funny enough, I finished the free levels and was thinking about whether to buy the extras pack earlier today. £3 is a bit steep for a level pack, but I will purchase it as the original game was given away free so altogether that's fine with me. Would I pay another £3 for angry birds level pack 2, and another £3 for level pack 3.. nope.

Re: App Prices
 

I guess we will see how this develops when there are more games on the store. Right now, Angry Birds has got a first-mover advantage, so they can ask a higher price. When other games arrive and they are as good or even better, the prices will likely go down.

Re: App Prices
 

We nokia better act quick for getting in commercial apps else maemo will be history :) , and only used by developers and techies ;)
Open source does not neccessarily mean free apps and vice versa also.

I think the platform has tremendous potential, the next quick steps would decide the way it goes.
Android and iPhone are real the real giants at the moment, so no doubt have the customer base.

Re: App Prices
 

I could be wrong, but I thought the Maemo "level pack 1" contains both level packs 2 & 3. At least the description says "42 levels".

I don't mind the price, even if it was more expensive then a different platform version. I do mind being charged more simply because of where I live though.

3 quid may not be that much, but while I would like to support and thank Rovio I'm not comfortable rewarding Ovi for this behaviour.

Re: App Prices
 

this a good reason to develop using QT tools b/c then the low unit sales on n900 could turn in to mega books when MeeGo is released b/c Nokia are targeting main stream then and there is also symbian^3 what is said will have similar chip sets to the n900 so you can port your QT apps there too.
once people start getting QT and the benefits, low unit sales will be a thing of the past and no excuses with pricing then

Re: App Prices
 

QT/Maemo5/Meego all good stuff :) , but without an infrastructure to support commerical apps or even marketing , nothing is going to sell like hot cakes.
ATM I think we are far from that, or atleast with the information that is shared with us mere mortals :rolleyes:

Re: App Prices
 

To be fair £3 for the 42 levels isnt as bad as i thought then TBH i though it was just for the next map pack.

i hope this pans out ok as im waiting for some apps that can help linux noobs like myself utilise the full potential of the phone.

Re: App Prices
 

Let's look at the question in a more general way.

Where I live, £3 (~3.41€) won't buy a pint of beer in most places (and I don't want to go to most places where it does). Still, while being completely useless, I have no problem buying a few pints almost every weekend. And this seems to apply to a lot of people around here.

So definitely £3 is an amount that can be thrown at something without much consideration. Heck, I just bought a branded can of energy drink and a pack of cookies for about that amount from a grocery store. Good value?

Now, that will depend on what they do. I wouldn't pay for a fart app, or some bikini pictures. However, if something is useful (and I happen to need it) or fun and has a value for me, I have no problem of paying a few € to the developers for their good work.

Also, I will definitely pay 3€ for the AB level pack. It's one of the finest mobile games I've seen so far.

For me, the biggest question is how to determine the value before deciding to spend. I think that the model of free "trial" version with limited content works well at least for games.

Re: App Prices
 

As much as I love my N900 I knew it would never be a popular device with heaps of cheap apps. I'm hanging out for Windows Phone 7 for that.