How to make iPhone Apps and Influence People Musings on the iPhone development process

In App Purchase is now available for free Apps, App Store is now more awesome

So, finally Apple have relented and decided to allow In App Purchase for free apps.

I just have to say that I'm really excited about this.

I think the initial idea behind Apple's 'free apps stay free' policy was to prevent 'fart apps' hitting you up for money mid session and allowing the paid apps to prosper in their superiority. But now the App Store eco system has evolved to a point where serious developers are needing ways to give  their potential customers previews beyond the only option of  'buy the free one, then if you like it buy the non free one'.

Recently I've been looking at ideas for in app purchase and I decided the two app idea wasn't going to work for what I was thinking. These new changes basically allow me to sell my ideas (they're not apps yet) on the App Store they way I want to.

Take this scenario:

If I were to build a single application that supported lots of different maps (for example) via in-app purchase, which map would I bundle with the initial cost of the app? And what if if the customer didn't want the bundled map I was including? In that case the customer would essentially  be charged extra money to end up with the map they really wanted, and I didn't see that as a great introduction into my software.

An alternative approach would have been to sell the initial app at a low price point to get people feeling comfortable about buying the app, and then continue to sell the other maps via in app purchase for an appropriate price. This would have half solved the 'unhappy default map' scenario by simply costing the customer less money. But would they see the saving? Or would they still be just as annoyed at paying me twice for what they really wanted in the first place. This was the compromised way  I was heading, but it would have meant giving away the the most popular map at a discount just to get foot traffic.

But as of today with these new rules on the App Store I can do what made sense in my mind and create a main 'gateway' app that could act as it's own little 'map store' and be given away for free - allowing the customer to choose the map(s) they want without going through the mental hurdle of paying me twice to get what they want. This is a much better option.

These new changes to the App Store policy will provide a great deal more flexibility all round. Now that the developer isn't required to charge an initial fee for in app purchase enabled apps they can provide free apps as a means to paid content. Previously the customer had to pay for that privilege, and in some cases it was a bit backwards. This will also be great for sales and promotions. It allows apps that include in app purchase to become free for a specific period of  time then go back to how they were.

All in all it's a great addition and is only telling me to get my act (app) together even faster!