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Comment by joelrunyon | Hacker News Reader

> Please, please just start charging for apps again. I specifically search for "pay once and never again" apps now.

To be honest - as an independent app store developer, these are REALLY hard to maintain just because you need to balance the need for ongoing development w/ servicing existing customers. Most app price points don't allow for this, since many customers are outraged that you would have the gall to even charge for an app (everything should be free, right?).

We've done well at doing both - and trying to add ONLY subscription services for features that are useful to users who use the app month over month.

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I'm happy to to unlock features that was developed after I bought it.

On the other hand I really don’t want to pay USD10 a month for access to premium features that run on my phone.

Oh. And yes. I prefer as much as realistically possible to run on my phone.

And I'm fairly sure I have sometimes paid for apps I really like even if I'm not sure I'll use them - just to reward the developer and incentivice them to develop more good apps.

> And I'm fairly sure I have sometimes paid for apps I really like even if I'm not sure I'll use them - just to reward the developer and incentivice them to develop more good apps.

I do this too. Subscriptions usually flip the bozo bit for me.

> since many customers are outraged that you would have the gall to even charge for an app (everything should be free, right?)

Do you even want those kinds of customers in the first place? I've found that paid apps tend to have higher quality customers instead of the bottom of the barrel type of customer that flocks to Clash of Clans.

We're already talking about reducing the install base by over 95% (in my experience) by having no free option. It's hard to get too picky about who installs your app when you're at that level, IMO.

This greatly depends on what type of app it is (e.g. social vs. utility).

Unfortunately the app store has turned a huge percentage of people into those customers. As addressed in the article, the app store itself contributes to the "uncertainty" of the entire app buying experience...

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