Realmac Software’s Daniel Counsell revisits a topic that’s been discussed for years, but still not addressed by Apple: Paid upgrades in the Mac App Store.
Paid upgrades in the Mac App Store
Realmac Software’s Daniel Counsell revisits a topic that’s been discussed for years, but still not addressed by Apple: Paid upgrades in the Mac App Store.
Same story for the iOS App Store. I’ve got an app on the story since 2009. Plateau was in 2013. Now investing in iOS9 and Watch but it’s really not worth it. Creating a new SKU would be an option if at least people that bought the app over the last 12 months could get a discount or even get it for free. The way it is now, it basically sucks…
Another side effect, less dramatic for the developers, is that people return to direct sales upgrades if the cost difference gets too much. With bigger titles like OmniGraffle Pro or PDFPen Pro the difference between the App Store and direct purchase upgrades can easily exceed $100. I have a few of these orphaned App Store apps already. So you go back to less convenient updates and, eventually, less secure Gatekeeper settings… Not really helpful.
This has been addressed.
If you want to see how you do paid upgrades in the App Store, look at an app called “Hype” by a company called “Tumult” who are coincidentally ex-Apple engineers.
If you owned Hype 2, then when Hype 3 shipped, you got a free upgrade through the Mac App Store to Hype 3. However, Hype 3 has basically the same feature set as Hype 2, except that the features and interface have been bug-fixed and refined. In other words, all the features you originally paid for are still there, still available, and still up-to-date as far as bug-fixes. So the upgrade did not blow up or abandon existing features that users are depending on daily.
Now, if you want entirely new features that you never had before, they are in an in-app purchase called “Hype Pro.” You may or may not want that. If you do want it, then the developers just made another $30.
An App Store app (iOS or Mac) is a STORE in a mall run by Apple. If you open a physical retail store in a mall and you decide to offer a new line or products (new features) you don’t suddenly close your store and open a new store on the other side of the mall called Store 2 and complain that none of your former customers are showing up. You just put out the new products in the same store that everybody already knows about, and you sell the new products to the consumers who are already coming in and out of your store daily. You stupid f–k.
I know software developers are paradoxically some of the most traditional people in the world, but your boxed software is GONE. Almost every computer user in the world started with the World Wide Web and does not understand what a software version is, and they are not going to learn so that you can perform some boxed software version number ritual with them. Get with the program. When a user puts one of your apps on a device, they have completed their I-T work. They are not going to do any more I-T work for you. They choose to use your app and Apple updates it and that is the end of the story. If you make them switch from your app to another app made by you, they might as well switch to your competitor’s app. And users have so many apps — you’re just not special enough to ask the user to do some I-T work for you. You have no right to ask that.
here’s the thing — the way it works now is exactly how software for gaming consoles are sold, both in brick and mortar and online (Steam). new version of a game comes out, it’s a new SKU, and there is no discount for owning the previous version.
why does it work for them? and doesn’t for apps?
interesting.
New “versions” of a game are normally entirely new games, and the most labor intensive stuff like graphics is completely redone. New versions of productivity apps are often extremely minor changes. Very hard to compare.
That would also be an option. If Apple would make it impossible to install old apps on new iPhones/iPads, like with game consoles. Great suggestion, love it!
This may work for some apps, doesn’t for others. Do not consider that “addressed” at all. How do you charge a reduced fee for a 64-bit rewrite, Retina-support, fundamental rewrites of existing algorithms… Not everything can be an IAP. And even things IAP can cover do easily fall apart after a few versions. How will the Hype 2 to Hype 4 or 5 experience be? How do I manage IAPs in a business environment? E.g. make sure all engineers have the right options activated and paid before they go off to a client site where they have no internet access? Does not really work for anything.
You’re making a simple thing for apple to fix much more complex than it is… All it needs is a mechanism to publish an app as payed instead of free upgrade and everyone is happy. This has nothing to do with living in the 80’s, It’s just something that isn’t high enough yet on Apple’s priority list. What Hype has done is just created a workaround that works but adds unnecessary complexity. With respect to InApp purchases, I see that you love them but others, including myself, find them a pain. I rather buy/sell a good piece of software with all features included. Every 2 or 3 years people can decide to buy an upgrade or not. Very simply. And hacking will always occur, also with iap. No change their over the last 30+ years.