“Apple invited a group of app developers to a secret April 2017 meeting in New York’s Tribeca district, asking them to move from selling apps at low prices to renting app access through subscriptions, Business Insider reports,” Jeremy Horwitz reports for VentureBeat. “This change is intended to keep users paying for apps ‘on a regular basis, putting money into developer coffers on a regular schedule,’ the report claims.”
Horwitz reports, “Apart from filling its own bank accounts, Apple wants developers to ‘create sustainable business models, instead of selling high-quality software for a few dollars or monetizing through advertising.'”
“Many consumers chafe at the idea of software as a subscription service, and there’s no question that the concept will not fly for the vast majority of titles currently in the App Store,” Horwitz reports. “Independent research suggests that video services such as Netflix, Hulu, and HBO are generating a large part of Apple’s subscription revenue, alongside top-earning freemium games. Most people will refuse to pay ongoing fees to ‘update’ something as basic as a blemish-removal tool or daily planner.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The success of subscriptions certainly depends on the value the app delivers.
