Today people wereshocked to discoverthat the first turning - by - twist navi iPhone app to hit the iTunes App Store be $ 9.99 — per calendar month . Well , get used to it , because there are a lot more subscription apps derive .
https://gizmodo.com/first-iphone-app-with-in-app-purchasing-1-app-10-pe-5296667
Think about it : letter carrier like Sprint , Verizon and AT&T regularly charge between $ 8 and $ 10 per month for GPS apps . Gokivo is just a made - for - iPhone variation of Verizon ’s not - so - great VZ Navigator . Why did you expect an update and hopefully improved version of that would be less ?
TomTom , TeleNav and Navigon are all await to be launching their own bit - by - turning navi apps for iPhone before the year is out , and it would be a shock absorber to me if they went any less than $ 10 - per - month .
The interrogation is , are they deserving it ?
Because we ’re talking turn - by - turn navi apps , the numbers are easy to break down . Not only do we know what carrier wave burden already , but we eff , for instance , that TomTom still number itsPDA software(supports Dell Axim , Sony Clie and Palm Zire , among other extinct devices ) for $ 99.95 — without free function update . At the same prison term , we know that even the cheapest decent portable navigators , like the Garmin Nuvi 250 , cost $ 128 on sale — also without free map update .
These apps , by definition , do n’t come with maps loaded into the phone — they download the most late ones from a host which the software Creator pays for the right to use on an ongoing basis . So add to that the price of licensing at once up - to - date ( Nokia - owned ) Navteq or ( TomTom - owned ) Tele Atlas single-valued function databases , and you see why no navi can just be a $ 15 one - time app . As Gokivo ’s Maker , Networks In Motion , say on their blog :
It takes a stack of work and money to birth all these feature and functionality that ’s include in a bit - by - turn pilotage app ; and unlike product with single-valued function on the gimmick , we are updating single-valued function and hunt indexes constantly .
This is just one category , but there are many that will need high pricing or persistent subscription fee to keep them going . This is n’t about The Man — Apple or AT&T or “ Macho Man ” Randy Savage . It ’s about developer , and it ’s rough for them when they need to distribute flagship software program over a program that ’s used to distribute 99 - cent iFarts . The transition must descend . I hate to say it , but the iTunes App Store want more sophisticated software program , and if that think high price then , for the rice beer of the iPhone type O ’s continued outgrowth and viability , I say we get behind it .
This is n’t to say Networks In Motion unveil the pricing scheme in themost refined way . But what they did to was make the first move . I mean everybody in the navigation category was hope someone else would go first , and Gokivo drew the poor straw .
Now come the next query , like how many twist you may load the software onto . After all , if the download is $ 100 , and you put it on two iPhones , is n’t it more like $ 50 each ?
App Store
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , science , and finish news show in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
