Why RIM Is Charging Much More For Apps Than Apple
-
Comments (View)
- Text Size: A A
-
Email
-
Share
RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) may want to widen its consumer base, but the price points in its new BlackBerry App World store shows that its still catering very much to the enterprise crowd. RIM has released pricing guidelines for it’s soon to be launched Blackberry App World applications store, and the lowest price for a paid app as $2.99 in the U.S.—well exceeding Apple’s popular price point of $0.99, and its next tier up of $1.99.
Why is RIM charging so much more? It may be trying to avoid some of the challenges that have arisen with the low-priced apps. First, there’s the issue of quality. Many developers have complained that the App Store is now awash with frivolous, cheapie apps that make it hard to discover the quality ones (though there is the argument that usefulness is in the eye of the beholder). Second, there’s a widely held notion among developers that the $0.99 price point puts downward pressure on all of the apps in the store. It’s difficult to sell an app for $2.99 or $4.99 when there’s a similar one being priced at $0.99. There’s also the argument that a $0.99 price point trains consumers to see apps as disposable, and devalues them.
More after the jump on whether this pricing strategy could backfire
Could this snubbing of the lowest price points hurt RIM, since the $0.99 applications are some of the App Store’s most popular? Venturebeat.com argues that it may well eliminate the dross, but it “also pretty much assures that BlackBerry App World will not be nearly as popular as Apple’s App Store has been.” It adds that compared to Google’s Android Market which tries to be much more open about the applications they allow into its store, RIM is being much more restrictive, which might also hurt its popularity.
But perhaps what RIM is betting on is that its application store will attract a lot more enterprise-oriented apps, and that business customers will be quite willing to pay more for them. At MWC, we saw numerous enterprise apps, including one from digital dictation provider Bighand aimed at lawyers that turns their Blackberry into a dictation device, which in turn can be forwarded to their secretary or even outsourced for transcription. Bighand hadn’t yet decided on a price for its App World version (it also has a version out now that enterprises host themselves), but you can bet it was never going to be $0.99, even if this were a choice. Still, it will be interesting to see what happens when the same app is priced for $0.99 on the App Store, and $2.99 on Blackberry AppWorld, which could conceivably happen.
Posted In: Entertainment, Companies, Apple, RIM, blackberry
Kobo
Social Standing
Which media brands are getting a lift from Tweeters and bloggers right now -- and which are getting panned?
Show Me: