I agree to a certain degree: The App Store pricing scheme might make some people hold-off on a PSP or a DS, but I don’t think that even with the low prices it will heavily impact console sales… if the publishers up their game — no pun intended — and produce titles that are worth the money.
There certainly are too many crappy 99ct games in the App Store that are too expensive for what they deliver. There are also games that in my opinion should cost more, because the developer deserves more money for the gem he/she produced.
But unfortunately on the other platforms you can’t find the latter.
I believe there will come a time of consolidation, where prices for good apps in the App Store are going to rise to a reasonable level.
John Gruber phrased this very nicely writing about the 50$ price tag of the Wolfram Alpha app:
Wolfram has released a native iPhone app for their Wolfram Alpha “computational knowledge engine”. It looks good, but what’s getting the most attention is the price: $50. MG Siegler says it should be $5 or $10. Rafe Needleman says it’s overpriced.
I haven’t bought it, but I’m glad they’ve set the price high. There’s widespread consensus that the current race-to-the-bottom in App Store pricing discourages the development of deep, significant applications. If all anyone is buying are quick-hit apps, then all anyone will make are quick-hit apps. We can’t have it both ways, folks. By pricing the app at $50, Wolfram is clearly saying, “This app is significant.”
It’ll be interesting to see how they do on the top-grossing list. Maybe it won’t work, but I’m glad to see someone try.
