Apple Loosens Grip On App Store Pricing With 700 New Price Points (techcrunch.com) 24
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Apple is loosening its requirements around how developers have to price their apps as legal and regulatory pressure over its tight control of the App Store intensifies. The company announced today it's expanding its App Store pricing system to offer developers access to 700 additional price points, bringing the new total number of price points available to 900. It will also allow U.S. developers to set prices for apps, in-app purchases or subscriptions as low as $0.29 or as high as $10,000, and in rounded endings (like $1.00) instead of just $0.99. Similar new policies to reduce restrictions around price points will roll out in global markets, alongside new tools aimed at helping developers better manage pricing outside their local market. The changes will initially become available starting today, Dec. 6, 2022, for auto-renewable subscriptions. They'll become available to paid apps and in-app purchases in Spring 2023.
U.S. consumers may have noticed some App Store prices already ended in other digits besides just $0.99. But that's because auto-renewing subscriptions had access to a slightly wider range of price points than other consumables -- including the ability to set their prices as low as $0.49. But these same rules did not apply to non-subscription app pricing, which added to consumer and developer confusion. The new system is looking to simplify the pricing so it's more consistent across the board. For U.S. apps in the lowest tiers, price points can increase in $0.10 increments up to $10.00 going forward. These price steps become less granular when you move into higher price points. For example, between $10 and $50, they then can increase by $0.50 increments. Between $50 and $200, the price steps would be $1.00, and so on.
In addition to the updated pricing policies, Apple is also now rolling out tools to help developers better manage currency and taxes across storefronts. Starting today, developers will be able to set their subscription prices in their local currency as the basis for automatically generating pricing across the other 174 storefronts and 44 currencies, or they can choose to manually set prices in each market. When pricing is set automatically, pricing outside a developer's home market will update as foreign exchange and tax rates change. This functionality will expand to all other apps beyond subscription apps in Spring 2023. Also coming in 2023, developers with paid apps and in-app purchases will be able to choose to set local territory pricing, which isn't impacted by automatic price adjustments based on the changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates. And all developers will also be able to define the availability of in-app purchases by storefront.
U.S. consumers may have noticed some App Store prices already ended in other digits besides just $0.99. But that's because auto-renewing subscriptions had access to a slightly wider range of price points than other consumables -- including the ability to set their prices as low as $0.49. But these same rules did not apply to non-subscription app pricing, which added to consumer and developer confusion. The new system is looking to simplify the pricing so it's more consistent across the board. For U.S. apps in the lowest tiers, price points can increase in $0.10 increments up to $10.00 going forward. These price steps become less granular when you move into higher price points. For example, between $10 and $50, they then can increase by $0.50 increments. Between $50 and $200, the price steps would be $1.00, and so on.
In addition to the updated pricing policies, Apple is also now rolling out tools to help developers better manage currency and taxes across storefronts. Starting today, developers will be able to set their subscription prices in their local currency as the basis for automatically generating pricing across the other 174 storefronts and 44 currencies, or they can choose to manually set prices in each market. When pricing is set automatically, pricing outside a developer's home market will update as foreign exchange and tax rates change. This functionality will expand to all other apps beyond subscription apps in Spring 2023. Also coming in 2023, developers with paid apps and in-app purchases will be able to choose to set local territory pricing, which isn't impacted by automatic price adjustments based on the changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates. And all developers will also be able to define the availability of in-app purchases by storefront.
why price points and not set any price? (Score:4, Insightful)
why price points and not set any price?
Why forced to use apples bank for foreign exchange rates?
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I think you can just blame their natural control-freak impulses. Someone thought it would look more tidy to have consistent pricing in their store, so there you go.
Re: why price points and not set any price? (Score:1)
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This is exactly it and they say such in their documentation. Imagine if you go into the 99 store and some stuff was 98 and some 94and some 87... Much nicer to have a set commonality across the board. It also helps them with foreign pricing.
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some stuff was 98 and some 94and some 87...
My God, the horror...
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why price points and not set any price?
Aesthetic reasons I think so the App Store is not a mash of $9.98 pricing and the like... though with all the new pricing I'm not sure it's different enough to say they just shouldn't let you set a price.
Why forced to use apples bank for foreign exchange rates?
An app developer needs to be able to set custom prices per region - it's not always a straight exchange rate, as you may want to price an app way cheaper in India for example where the average wage is less. Appl
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Apples does this so it can control who sells on their platform. It's a very quick way to find out if a seller is sufficiently compliant to all the stupid rules Apple has, or if they're going to be trouble down the line and should be banished. Any seller makes a quibble about wanting a different price point then they get the black mark of someone Apple probably doesn't want to do business with.
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Makes it look nicer and prevents developers of similar apps for dropping the price a couple cents to try to attract sales away from another. Looks much better if all prices end in .99 than if you have some apps at 99 some at 98 some at 91 some at 87 some at 79, etc. It also helps across international currencies to be more standardized, especially since conversion rate fluctuates daily and they have to often eat it.
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Why forced to use apples bank for foreign exchange rates?
That is nothing more than a side effect of being forced to use Apple as the payment processor. Every payment processor includes their own forex system.
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Why forced to use apples bank for foreign exchange rates?
Because you are forced to use Apple for your payment processing. Why would it make any sense to have options about exchange rates if you can't even dodge the extortive 30% that Apple charges you just to do the transaction?
UGh...subscriptions... (Score:2)
I dropped all things Adobe like a hot fucking rock when they went all subscription and I've found amazing alternatives and never looked back.
So, unless you have a business reason to do a software subscription, why could regular people pay monthly/annually for software?
Is this mostly for games where you pay to connect to servers, etc...?
Or are the majority of people paying rent just to use software?
Ugh...just crawls under my skin.
Maybe just be
Everyone has a business reason (Score:1)
So, unless you have a business reason to do a software subscription
Realistically, what company does NOT have a valid reason for a software subscription?
If you buy an app on a phone, over time you will update that phone and the OS. You can't reasonably expect a single purchase price to pay for those upgrades forever. And indeed we find that over time many apps that were single purchase are simply gone, having run out of one-time revenue.
The only way a mobile app can survive is some kind of subscription. N
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Realistically, what company does NOT have a valid reason for a software subscription?
Oh, of course, companies always love 'recurrent user spending'. However, cayenne8 and I are believers in the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.
If you buy an app on a phone, over time you will update that phone and the OS. You can't reasonably expect a single purchase price to pay for those upgrades forever.
Well, my copy of Milebug on iOS still works flawlessly. Also, my copy of Titanium Backup on Android still works flawlessly. I don't entirely disagree that Apple and Google's moving target of APIs and OS compatibility means that some maintenance needs to be done, but there are no shortage of apps that would be just fine if they stopped treating updates
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I buy a program for PC, I get plastic disc, transaction complete.
May I point out that all but the most popular PC apps are gone over time? Because they too lacked revenue... even Adobe had to go to a subscription model.
Then why am I extremely hard pressed to point to an app I use that's improved over the past three years?
Because you are not subscribing to any apps? It seems pretty clear that apps you do not subscribe to will not improve much over time, thereby proving my point.
I do subscribe to the Adobe
Re: Everyone has a business reason (Score:2)
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I was speaking at this from the consumer point of view..not the company.
For sure from a company point of view, it is to their advantage.
The trouble with the consumer having to pay forever, is they get no guarantees the app will have improvement, etc.
And what if the app is just good enough that they don't need any 'upgrades'?
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Sometimes you just don't have any other options. The one I put up with for two years was Bria, because I needed a SIP app with an iPad interface. Dumb, but reality. Ditched it once I could, but it was well done.
Classic micromanaging behavior (Score:5, Insightful)
If you've ever worked for a micromanager, you know they have a long list of things they care about, and they watch you like a hawk to make sure you don't stray from their own little preferences. This is Apple's behavior, and it's one of the common characteristics of a monopoly.
- why $0.99 ? - (Score:2)
"ended in other digits besides just $0.99"
This is the retailers way of saying; "We think you are really stupid. You will see that 0.99 and say to yourself 'that's less than a dollar!'. We know that stupid people who see .99 at one retailer and 1.00 at another retailer will go for the supposedly lower price." And the buyer never considers the tax or shipping or other costs on the product. The buyer doesn't consider whether the manufacturer is Chinese, or a major polluter, or a donor to QAnon causes.
These sam
the only price point I've ever paid for an "app" (Score:2)
$0.00
I don't know who is paying for a bunch of craptastic "apps" but it sure isn't me.