“I’d rather developers sell fewer than a million downloads and get to a million dollars,” Brandon Watson, director of an apps developer program for Microsoft, said in a press briefing in Helsinki. “If we can support a higher price point that’s good for developers.”
The developer in my appreciates this approach. One of the hardest hurdles to get over in migrating from selling Mac software to the iOS platform is the drastic drop in prices that occurs. As a Mac application, Elements would sell for $30-$40 whereas I get the occasional email screaming highway robbery for charging $5 for it on the iOS AppStore.
The low price points work on iOS because there is such a large market of iOS devices out there. There are millions of iPhones, iPod touches and iPad customers who are constantly downloading apps so it makes it sustainable for any app that has mild success. The downside of course is those who don’t find much traction in a niche feel compelled to only charge $2 for an app that will only be downloaded a few times a week.
Having said that, I don’t see how Windows Phone can succeed with higher priced apps. Windows Phone’s current marketshare is lackluster compared to Android and iOS. As people start to evaluate it once their current contracts are up, part of the story that needs to be told is what the app marketplace is like. Windows Phone just passed 20,000 apps, which is a good milestone, but imagine a user’s response when they see a $9.99 app that has a similar counterpart on iOS for $2.99 and ad supported on Android.
It wouldn’t bother me, but I’m not your average consumer.