AppStore is on the way. How much are you willing to pay?
Apple's iPhone-based AppStore is sure to debut sometime in the next month or two. My guess is that it will launch at WWDC, with select close partners at the launch and then a general opening to the rest of the third-party developers. I'd be quite surprised if AppStore launched and allowed immediate access to everyone who wanted to post an application for sale.
Follow the jump for more thoughts and questions.
Until now, iTunes software sales (for games that play on the 5G devices) have been limited to an extremely select few. The prices seem stuck at about $4.99 per title. The game play for these items has been pleasant but minimal. That's not a surprise given the limited capabilities of the classic iPod platform.
With AppStore expanding sales to the iPhone and iPod touch, how much will developers now charge for their wares? Are they going to stick at the .99/$1.99/4.99/9.99 levels that iTunes users have grown accustomed to? Or will we see $14.99 or even $19.99 prices?
Right now, looking at the jailbreak software market, I don't see people spending more than five or six dollars for the kind of software that's been released. And, yes, I know that pretty much all the jailbreak software is currently free. I mean if you had to pay for it.
Will there be a race to the bottom as developers try to undercut each other's prices? Or will quality drive certain titles to the front and sustain higher pricing? Phone-based homebrew software has been around for a long time but AppStore adds a new Apple-flavored twist to this equation.
So how much are you willing to pay for iPhone software? For Apollo, Twitterrific Touch or the NES emulator? Or for one of those spiffy new ports coming out of traditional gaming companies? Is the AppStore going to be just another source of free widgets or will there be a way for third party developers to entice you to buy? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
