Liae Blog

I’ve been using Iphone since they came out and I love apps; for they are cheaper, easy to download and start using. Games ? They cost fraction of price for other devices such as XBOX or PC or PSP 3000, you name it!

Once you keep on buying games, after your careful research such as reading  reviews, ratings etc, you will always find one thing in common for many of the Apps out there, and Apple proudly says something similar like this, “WE HAVE MORE APPS THAN ANYONE ELSE” – okay, that might  be the case, but how many makers are actually making the value of user’s hard earned money useful. Not much if you ask me. Many of the makers, simply wait for a year to pass by before they do anything with the old version of the game, although the old one could still be making money for them. It’s not a marketing practice to not provide update to older products, rather push selling new ones, but we can term this as “RIP OFF” – Give them something for cheap for now, and simply ignore them for the the rest of the year and when the year goes by, we will tweak this or that and perhaps bringout a new App and sell that one while still carrying the old Apps; simply to trap those who don’t do much research and find them self in the net of money-hungry app makers.

Let me put two big makers, so all those others can relax for a while. Electronic Arts, (EA) and Gameloft are two players in the App market for Iphone 4 and Ipod touch and also port their games for other phones run by Android Operating System. What these two companies do; ignore the old version, forget about it, even if old versions are used by many out there, simply ignore those people, for we will give them a new version and perhaps make it free outside and inside, put something like In App Purchase even just to play a game, take the Real Soccer 2012, the game is well better than earlier version, but here, gameloft has made a soccer game which could cost you as much as 100 dollar by the end of the year if you keep on buying in app purchase. It’s not only GAMELOFT here, FIFA 12 by EA does something similar too. At a look at the Manager mode here, they will have such a louzy IA, that you will want to buy coins (In App Purchase) even if you play very well at the level of Professional or Legend. Is App Store all about making sure that you get constant money from users, or give them a free App and put them in a hook ? Long time ago, Apps in Appstore rarely carried anything like in App Purchase, so when you paid for a game, you were done. You had nothing to worry about. Now, it seems, the only way Apple and it’s developers is to make money is to bombard users with this loop-hole, a tricky backdoor where a kid who is using dad’s iphone could actually make a dad bankrupt for a day if the kid knows how to purcahse In-app. If you think I am lying, there are In Apps for as much as one Hunred Dollar. Would that not be enough to buy two games for your XBOX or PLAYSTATION ?

If apple makes In-App Purchase as the only way to make more out of users, it might take users away from this market and you will probably see less and less apps in Iphone or Ipad. If you think  users won’t buy a good game for $10 and then they don’t have to pay nothing, you are wrong. Apple Needs to Remove what’s called “TOP GROSSING” Chart and replace it by “TOP MOST FREQUENT UPDATE”. Only pleasing developers, making them happy, earning lots of money from users who really don’t have to pay, is called a loop whole and those who haven’t protected their devices, Please be warned. It’s impossible to get any refunds and once you purchase In-Apps type, you are doomed.

Some makers like EA, sold bunches of the popular golf game Tiger Wood PGA 2012, for a cost. Now, it went free for a while. Inside the game, there is more screens for shopping this or that than actually giving users simulation. Did you find those crowds sleeping on the hill while you are waving at them ?

In-App Purchase is done for two reasons:

• Makers want to make sure they can drain the user’s bank account as much as they can
• Want to remain in the Top Grossing Chart
• Want to battle with another similar game who might be even better, but is not listed on the Top Grossing.

So, as a user, what should you do ? Simply ignore the top-grossing, and download games wisely. You can protect the ability to spend extra money by blocking In App Purchase on your device. Want to say that this is a Rip off or you love it ? Send your discussions to the Apple Forum. Here is the site, just type it :

https://discussions.apple.com/community/iphone

Tips to help you get a game that won’t cost legs and arms :

• Check prices, as they used to say, “There is no Free thing in America”, It’s probably True. Read reviews and see if anyone has disliked it. Also read at the blogs or web about the App you are about to buy.
• Not all Paid Apps carry In-App Purchase, so check reviews to see which one does not.
• Don’t bother giving your hard earned money just to play a single match with your 0.99 every day. Can you add how much that would be by the end of a year ? With that much, you could actually get a brand new laptop.
• Don’t ever click “TOP Grossing Chart” – I find it ridiculous to see this chart. To user it means, the apps that are making more money. Many are free. So think of yourself ? Why would they be there ? Because there are probably bunches of coins hanging inside the App for you to click and sure, you will be spending–at times perhaps accidentally. Sorry, there are no refunds as I am told.

Hope this much helps. Buy games knowing what it has inside. Tell Apple that when you have bought a game, and later if it goes free as an update or something, you should be able to get your money back. Also, just because everyone is going crazy, doesn’t mean there aren’t other markets. In fact, you might love Google’s Android Market. Have a look at it there.

Apple might be the most selling or having Apps, but not all Apps are worth downloading, you and I know that, but often we forget.

Hope Apple puts  a limit on In-App Purchase so consumers are benefited, otherwise, the history of In-App might hurt Apple all together.

Well, what should I know more, Forget about me.
There should not be a limit on how much a user can spend. I think future apps in App Store might have In App Purchase as much as a thousand dollar – I don’t think I am dreaming while typing this.

Thoughts be RIP for now and when will we see In-App Purchase as much as $1000 Dollar ? Very soon. Have your money ready.