It’s time to abolish free apps on the AppStore

I’m a firm believer in Karma, and sadly I think that an entire demographic needs a reality check. When a development firm such as blacksmith games puts together an entire month worth of free downloads for the iPhone community, and the community can’t turn around and support the developer by purchasing a $1.99 application in the appstore, something’s clearly rotten in the state of the AppStore.

What a joke, iPhone app prices are a steal

The system is completely broken and frankly I’m not really sure what to do about it. A dollar ninety-nine for a mobile game is a steal no matter how awesome or crappy a game is, and the fact that a development firm tosses out a tweet that says, “if 5% of the daily appvent visitors would buy plushed i would be happy” reveals a pretty grotesque commentary on iPhone users and their purchasing tendencies. The Sony PSP games start at approximately 19.99 on the lowend and about 49.99 at the high end, and I’ve played some of those games… frankly a lot of them pale in comparison to some 1.99 games that I’ve paid for on the iPhone. Sure, there’s a lot of crap on the AppStore, but there’s surely enough meat and potatoes available that the 1.99 price point is a steal when compared to other devices.

It’s time to stop living in a culture of free, because frankly, time is going to run out and developers are going to leave us behind. Heck, I have a huge love for the iPhone but if I couldn’t have a conversion rate of 5% for my iPhone apps I’d give up development on the iPhone as well. It’s just not sustainable, and unless consumers start to realize that their beloved iPhone developers spend hours upon hours developing ground breaking application this whole marketplace is going to collapse on itself. It’s a bloody shame.

Now’s the time to clear the crap out of the AppStore

Their modest conversion goal of 5% of traffic isn’t all that lofty, and considering the reviews the app is getting on the AppStore I’d think that they’d easily be able to achieve a conversion rate of 10% at the very least. Only two ratings are below a perfect five out of five, and out of those only one really had a problem with the game dynamics. What is it about the iPhone that advocates a race to the bottom in price-points, and as a result encourages the masses to flock to free applications?

Some would argue that it’s a quandary worthy of in-depth discussion, but I think the finger should be directly pointed at Apple and the handful of developers who encouraged the rest of the marketplace to drop prices to unsustainable rates. Someone once told me that if you didn’t appreciate yourself no one else would appreciate you. I think that theory could be applied here, and I think it’s time that Apple start segmenting the AppStore. Put the real development groups in one section, and the fly by nighters in another section. Because frankly, the half-assed developers that are driving down the prices need to be put out to pasture, and the real developers, the ones putting their heart and soul into a game that can’t break a 5% conversion rate need to be coddled a little until the tides turn, before they’re gone for good.

Apple needs to do everything it can to help these developers be successful, and frankly I think it’s time we eliminate free applications. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so why the heck is Apple encouraging a free app? Clearly the community doesn’t have enough gumption to support developers who continue to give them excellent application after excellent application.

Some hard numbers from the AppVent team

As previously mentioned, the developers of Plushed have put together a modern day Advent Calendar, much like the traditional ones Christians have grown accustomed to over the years. Every single day, up until the 24th, they were giving away one application, for free, for the entire day. All. Month. Long.

The AppVent Calendar has been a great success in terms of traffic. The website has seen over 150,000 pageviews daily, and over 35,000 unique visitors during the course of the month, and somehow their app isn’t selling very well. They’re hoping for 5% of the page’s viewers would purchase Plushed. You know what that currently works out to? 1750 people, or $3482.50 in sales. That looks like a nice chunk of change, but the question here is whether or not the application is profitable. I put in an email to Johannes, one of the team members for Plushed, and it was estimated that they spent approximately 8 months full time coding and submitting the game to the AppStore. They broke it down to 4 months worth of coding the application, and another four months of game design, level design, and artwork. How many people worked on the project? Eleven. That’s what it takes to get an amazing game done these days, and still we complain about the $1.99 price point of a game. You want to know what that works out to in profit per day at a measly 5% conversion rate? Do you really want me to spell it out? It works out to $21.00 per day…for one person. Once you start adding the other 10 people who worked on the application, and Apple Inc. getting 30% off the top, an indie development team is left with wages that would border on illegal if someone else were paying their bills.

And here we are wondering why some major development firms haven’t taken up programming games for the iPhone.

The reality of the situation

Programming for the iPhone isn’t profitable unless you have a huge name behind you, or Apple decided to feature your application. For the rest of the developers it’s a giant game of chance. In the early days, when things were still fresh and getting settled, the risk was worth it. You could make a fortune over night. Today, the risk-reward ratio is tilted way too far toward risk than reward.

This is a story that needed to be told, and more importantly shared. Lets start appreciating developers and all they do for us, and support them. If we don’t, they won’t be around much longer.

I’ve decided I’d support the team who worked on Plushed, I think you should as well.