Food for thought from David Barnard on App Cubby around the pricing of mobile apps and the race to zero for purchase price on apps, even with the big-ticket apps and games available for the mobile platforms. But Barnard goes beyond the problems for developers, and suggests this is what Apple intended:
…Apple’s policies and the design of the App Store itself initiated and even accelerated the race to the bottom. It’s clear to me in hindsight that this was either Apple’s intent, or at least something they didn’t actively discourage. To Apple, apps are merely complements to their highly profitable hardware sales.
Where other companies , such as Amazon with the Kindle Fire and console makes like Sony with the soon to arrive PS Vita in Europe and US, rely on additional sales to make up their profit, that’s not the Apple way. The majority of profit is in the handset, and the temptation to buy it is in app ecosystem where you can load up on thirty apps for $20 after your purchase.
