There has been a lot of debate lately around the Apple chart ranking system.
Currently, the chart position of an App is mostly influenced by the number of copies sold every day. No matter what the price of a copy is.
This seems unfair to many developers. Of course a $0.99 app sells more units. So those developers who think they can charge more than $0.99 are not doing it, thinking they will never be able to get into the charts. And big publishers started to join the low-price ranks by “peggling” their prices down to $0.99 when one of their apps might be dropping out of the charts, thus preventing new apps to rise to the top.
While I agree the current system is not perfect, I really think people, esp. independent developers, underestimate the dangers of changing it.
Brand names (aka: publishers) like EA have a natural advantage charging a higher price: Customers trust they get quality games from them. That is the key reason to invest millions of dollars to build a brand to begin with. And it certainly works with the average customer, so they will get more customers paying a certain price than the average independent. Already today, it is mainly the publishers who are in the Top 100 with higher prices. In the revenue-chart rank scenario, I see nothing less than the first top 50 of the chart ranks being dominated by those very publishers the small independent developers would like to see harnessed somehow.
On top of that, many seem to forget that a low price is THE key element of getting visibility in a crowded market. I just can’t see why altering the chart system should change that. With 70k apps out there and counting, there are ten other independents out there just waiting for you to raise your price and there is no end to the flood yet. You can “encourage” developers to charge more, but in a very competitive space, the Walmart approach typically wins.
In my humble opinion, the scenario I foresee if Apple would alter the chart ranking system: Independent developers going for the broad audience will still mostly compete with low prices but with a much lesser chance to make it into the charts.
And landing a top ten hit might get much harder. I clearly prefer a scenario where an independent developer with a unique idea and say 2 months development time has a shot at the top ten.
Last but not least I wanted to state one thing that we all tend to forget sometimes. The success of Apple’s appstore is not understood in all detail. Personally I believe it was the flood of high-quality low cost games that put Apple, and us, into this amazing position. And I think Apple should ride that wave some more time, it is the constantly broadening user base and the unexpected mass purchase behavior we see out there that I would base the idea of building a sustainable business on much rather than artificial regulation. Yes, I heard the “you can not build a sustainable business with $0.99 apps” many times and I would like to state that is not necessarily true in a fast growing mass market.
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