Ask HN: Can phone apps have monthly fees? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Can phone apps have monthly fees?

3 pointsdfragnito7 comments

I have been unable to find a phone app with a monthly fee. Is it possible, and if so what would be the major hurdles? I see this 30% in app purchase nonsense, I assume that would apply?

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I think it makes more sense to charge for a service, more than an an application. I think applications are seen as 'Products you own'. It might not be true.

Evernote for exmaple charges for the cloud storage and services provided by their web app and cloud implementation, the iphone app is really just another channel.

I understand what's involved now.

This separation of an "app" from it's service component is a step backwards. It's my belief that "software" is a service. But we will play this game for now until eventually everyone comes to their sense and all apps become web apps. I am with Mozilla on this one.

In the end I just want to serve markup to a browser and then all will be good.

Apple doesn't allow autorenewing fees for "just apps". You have to be basically a magazine that makes episodic content the end user ends up owning.

You can use their non-renewing subscription, 30% still applies, and renewing is a bit of a hassle.

Yep apps can have monthly fees. Think about diet programs like Weight Watchers where you the tools come with the monthly program. No major hurdles except coming up with that product in the first place.

I use the jailbreak only Groove Shark app plus the Pandora music app. Both have annual/monthly fee's attached which is fine because I am paying for the service they provide.

Thanks for the reply. I am interested in the issues involved in developing a phone app with monthly fees (I should of made that more clear). I will take a closer look at Pandora and see how they implemented their subscription model in their phone app.

One way to bypass the app store restricitons is to charge separately on the web, like Instapaper does.

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