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Comment by mbizzle | Hacker News Reader

Interesting that most saw no change in revenue. While the article does make a point for price testing and competitive intelligence, the story I'm taking from the data is that it might be a bigger issue of marketing. What channels are driving your new user interest and sales? Pricing is so marginal - $0.99, $1.99, $2.99 - that it seems there's a relative inelasticity for app pricing. Consumers are more interested in what apps they have a perceived "need" for and thereby exposure and recommendations are a larger determiner of sales than pricing.

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I would have liked to see if there was anything about the actual pricing of the different apps. For instance, did the apps that increased their revenue the most during the sale happen to be the highest priced? Valve claims, with numbers from Steam, that deep discounts during a sale tends to lead to higher revenue. But, as you say, with prices so low that a 50% sale on a $1.99 app isn't much to bother with. Either you want the app or not, the price in most cases is not that big a deal.

I just wonder if there's a value thing associated with the price of the app. For instance, someone seeing that $5.99 app they're kind of interested in, but not convinced, on sale for $2.99 may buy it. A higher dollar amount suggests quality (not necessarily true) and a 50% discount on a possibly desirable product suggests a deal worth considering.

That is a good point - I'd like to actual before & after prices as well.

What I personally find most interesting is what this means about the difference between Android customers and iPhone customers in terms of price sensitivity. It may be strategic to price the same app differently across different platforms in some cases if possible.

Depending on the app, that's worth considering. More people need to understand that the iPhone and Android markets are, for the most part, completely different.

In most cases, iPhone users are paying a premium for their device and probably expect much the same for the apps. On the other hand, with a huge range of entry for the Android ecosystem, expectations for apps will have a similar range.

For example, I have a cheapo Android phone because it suits my needs and has no contract. I have never bought an app for it. I have a Galaxy Tab 2 7" and have bought several apps for it. The problem is how can developers know this so they can market to me for their benefit. But then my buying habits may not reflect the market in general.

It's a tough nut to crack.

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