Slashdot Mirror
Apple Swaps "Get" Button For "Free" To Avoid Confusion Over In-App Purchases
New submitter lazarus (2879) writes Apple is falling in line with the European Commission's request that app sellers do more to stop inadvertent in-app purchases. Following Google's lead, Cupertino has removed all instances of the word "free" within its iOS and Mac app stores (with the exception of its own apps, like iMovie), and replaced them with the term "Get." The new label clarifies what users can expect when downloading an app. Apps previously labeled as "Free" will now have a "Get" label. If those apps include in-app purchases, a small gray "In-App Purchase" label will appear below the "Get" button.
I just ran into this in iBooks, and was very nervous until I confirmed that other normal books still had prices. So "Get" means "free iBook", too.
Because apple doesn't get a cut of that money. Duh.
Because after 20 years of killing Nazis, I still haven't bought the full version of Wolf3d.
In-app purchases can be used to approximate the old shareware system very closely. Provide the app for free, then unlock the rest of the features (or episodes past the first) with one or two IAPs. For example, Idthesda could put out an app called Doom that contains an 8-level episode "Knee-Deep in the Dead". Then an IAP called "Ultimate Doom" would include 8-level episodes "The Shores of Hell", "Inferno", and "Thy Flesh Consumed", and an IAP called "Doom II" would unlock another 32-level episode. The only difference is that Apple's App Store Review Guidelines doesn't allow "use past 30 days" to be an IAP; only noninteractive content can be provided on a rental basis.
why can't we go back to the old shareware system?
Because unfortunately for all of us that loathe the free + in-app micropayment model, it actually makes money. There's no way an entire ecosystem built around this model would have sprung up if everyone hated it as much as I did.
There are many, many people who download and play a huge number of free games, and never bother paying, or perhaps pay for a game rarely. Many of those people (like kids) are time rich and cash poor, so don't blink as spending ridiculous hours grinding away. There are a much smaller number of people who get addicted to these games and spend a ridiculous amount of money on in-app purchases... far more than would have ever been paid if they had just purchased the game outright. Those people are the real targets.
My only hope is that people eventually grow tired of these sleazy tactics and refuse to participate. Then again, people still waste money at casinos and buying lottery tickets, so I'm not really holding my breath. I'll just continue supporting developers that sell their games up-front for a fixed price - a model I much prefer.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
An app that's free and doesn't have any in-app purchases, meaning it's 100% free with zero chance of incurring any charges, should still be able to have the "Free" button. Why isn't that possible to do? "Get" is ambiguous and doesn't indicate to the consumer that the app is free. I can see a decline in popularity of truly free apps, and confusion among consumers, from this change. If they all say "Get" then there's no way for the consumer to discern truly free from the rest.
You paid for WinZip? That bloated piece of crap? When there's only about three dozen different free compression applications? You don't even have to resort to classical freeware, there are FOSS programs that will do the job quite nicely, with a polished GUI for those who don't like CLIs.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Free* would be funnier.
*Not free.
Backwards your title is. Confused people will be.
This story is literally about changing a string from "Free" to "Get".
Further, the headline has it backwards. Swapping X for Y means you swap out X and swap in Y.
Maybe you used to, you can't now.
Yes you can.
http://support.apple.com/en-us...
Whenever an app has a cost, the button is a price, but when it's all zeros suddenly we need a word?
I struggled with this problem for some time as well and found the "BEST" soloution...
Gift cards....
I had an old gift card with a zero balance. I entered in the numbers, including the CVV code and apple was happy and allowed me to create the account.
If they try to use the card, naturally it will be declined but it isn't even in my own name in the first place (gift cards dont require your detail since they are "stored value" cards.)
It's time for having 3 categories. Paid, in-app-purchases, free.
Seriously.
With a low number of exceptions, in-app purchases are just todays scam/trick to get your app into the "free" section of the store, without it actually being free.
I want a section for genuinely, 100% free apps, simply because there are quite a lot of them out there and because it would be the honest thing to do and because I mind being tricked a lot more than having to pay for something.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org