The App Economy Will Change, Just Not Yet
Recently, a friend and colleague of mine posted this to Twitter:
People complain about $2.99 iPhone games, and then they go buy $50 Wii and XBOX 360 games.
Raven Zachary
ravenme
Which made me think about the consciousness into why people aren’t willing to pay for apps on their phones.
I think it has been the last n years of the ringtone economy (aka Dollar Store) which has put society in this mold. I can’t count how many people have looked at their phone bills and said, “I’m subscribed to WHAT ringtone service?!?!”
Ringtones screwed people, and being impulse buys, are akin to the things we buy at the checkout line at the grocery store and throw away after our children have played with them for an hour.
I would also argue that apps like iFart, which make someone $40,000 in two days, creates an entire goldrush phenomenon which gives us some less than stellar apps.
It’s also the marketing budgets behind console games, and a host of other factors, but I think we’re breaking out of the mold that some apps can provide valuable information and entertainment, it’ll just take a while.
–jake
