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Apple App Store crosses 3 billion downloads fueled by Free Apps

on January 6, 2010 – 11:02 pm3 Comments

The Apple App Store has reached yet another milestone – 3 billion downloads .

After crossing 1 billion and 2 billion downloads now its 3 billion

On one hand this demonstrates that users are preferring to download Apps a lot. And many are even willing to pay for that app which seems to offer value.

On the other hand the app store is being flooded with apps nowadays and there is no way apart from using iTunes on the Computer or the App Store on the iPhone/iPod to find apps. You can easily get confused what app to choose.

Some developers offer a free lite version of their app alongside  the paid app just to give end users a glimpse of the paid version. This is actually cool

But many developers are trying to act smart by making their paid-app free  and charging for a premium upgrade inside the app.

And once the developer decides to do this , there is no way a user to download the Paid app from the store although he has paid for it in the past.  He is just forced to download the free version.

This scenario occurs especially when users upgrade their device or move from an iPhone to iPod touch.

Although the App Store allows you download apps you have bought in the past such things hamper the user experience . The F.A.S.T.: Fleet Air Superiority Training game is one example. It was a top rated paid game on the app store. I had purchased it on my iPod Touch(1st gen) few months ago. Now the paid version of the app is gone !  Now i upgraded to the 3rd gen iPod Touch and all I got was the free version of the app without the premium features I had paid for !

This screenshot courtesy of AppShopper speaks for itself !

Developers have also started offering newer versions of their app as separate apps like Tweetie 2 for example when Tweetie is also a paid app.

At the end of the day ,  I just feel a bit cheated and will think 10 times before purchasing anything in future !

Who is got to take the blame for this ? Apple , the App Store , the Developer or the User ?

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Varun Krish is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast and has been blogging about mobile phones since 2005. His current phones include the Nokia Lumia 800 and Apple iPhone 4S. You can follow him on Twitter @varunkrish and on Google+ You can also mail Varun Krish

  • http://dailyiphoneblog.com Carl

    To be fair, half the free apps on the App Store are better than the good ones available on the Ovi Store or any other store for that matter. The good apps show their face in the top 100 and the ones that are publicised a lot. I’m sure all the rubbish ones are laid to rest soon after they are released. The great rating system and also review system on the App Store makes sure that many people know what they are downloading and what’s good.

    • http://www.fonearena.com Varun Krish

      Carl,
      You can’t compare the App Store to any other store . Only the Apps which get promoted might get the reviews and ratings.
      And there are so many apps doing the same thing.

      My point is about paid apps going free and pissing users off !

  • http://jeethukarthik.com Jeethu Karthik

    This has been the business model for softwares for as long as i can remember. Hey, just cuz you bought a license for Windows vista doesn’t mean Microsoft is gonna give you Windows 7 for free. But the do make it cheaper for people to upgrade though. The apps in App store aren’t mature enough for such a business model nor the ppl buying the apps need any more complexity. I think the AppStore is great the way it is.

    As for your problem with F.A.S.T, I think iTunes makes a backup of all the apps in an iPod/iPhone. So if you had a backup of the premium version, you can use it in your new device. Cheers!!