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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

In-App Purchases Are Evil

Okay, I don't know if they are entirely evil. But I don't like them. People never like the "getting nickeled and dimed" feeling, and nothing feels more like that than getting hit up for in-app purchases in the middle of using an app you already paid for.

Mostly this occurs in the games world, which means nothing to me since I don't waste time on them play them. But I ran into it for the first time on an app I already paid for--Words With Friends. And for a very basic feature that really should be built-in: computing the score of your candidate play.

Like I say, I recognize that app developers need to make a living, and don't always find that easy on Android. I hated the advertising in WWF, so I happily sprung for the paid version. I think it was $2.99. Maybe the publisher would argue that $5 or more is a fair price, so I'm still getting a good deal even if I pay $2 for the in-app feature. Could be, but like I said, I instinctively resist getting nickeled-and-dimed. Too much of a slippery slope.

2 comments:

  1. Matt brown07:59

    I think this paradigm is due primarily to the increase in popularity of android. It is so easy for people to steal things on the android, that the developers found the only way to make money on apps was to start the in app purchases.
    I'm with you though. Feels like being nickel and dimed

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  2. Could be. I know they say it is harder to make money on Android than iPhone--even though Android is now numerically a lot bigger. And I do know it is easier to crack/steal in Android. But the main reasons cited are usually tightfistedness of the Android user--which I plead guilty to. But anyway, I would be fine with it if you could pay the full-freight price and make them go away. I was already a paid-in-full user. :)

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