Apple now permits in-app purchasing

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 October, 2009

Puts an end to all those Lite versions.

iPhone and iPod Touch application developers will no longer have to provide a "Lite" version to allow people to sample their work for free.

Thanks to a change in Apple's rules, detailed on Engadget, it's now possible to offer a free version which includes an option to upgrade to the full version within the application, similar to the way Xbox Live Arcade games work.

The option can be used "to sell content, subscriptions, and digital services", according to Apple's developer intel.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wizlon #1 2 years ago

    The problem with this now is that you download a game with the price as "free" but you have no idea how much (if anything) it will cost to play the full game (unless the author decides to add it to the app description). I could download Tetris, play it for 2 minutes then get asked to pay £5 for the game, where I could have just bought another Tetris game off the store with it's price visibly listed as £1.59... I like Tetris!

  • kangarootoo #2 2 years ago

    @wizlon

    Is that likely though? Most shareware advertises its full price somewhere, so I think you are imagining the worst in this case, and very much doubt a majority of apps will conceal their price in the way you suggest.

    And even in the instances where the full price isn't clear on download, does it really matter? You can always just stop playing if you don't like the price.

  • Zomoniac #3 2 years ago

    This could either be very convenient and flexible or very dangerous and disappointing. Hopefully the former.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #4 2 years ago

    I could download Tetris, play it for 2 minutes then get asked to pay £5 for the game, where I could have just bought another Tetris game off the store with it's price visibly listed as £1.59.

    Well, you could always delete the £5 tetris and then go and buy the £1.59 one. You'd only have wasted 2 minutes of playtime, plus a maximum of another two minutes of download time.

    I'm sure app vendors are not permitted to charge for content silently.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/09 @ 10:12

  • Rirekon #5 2 years ago

    I give it a month before someone works out a way to bill you through an app without you noticing.

  • Antaios #6 2 years ago

    So? Same stuff, different name. I don't see the difference, really.

  • Zomoniac #7 2 years ago

    I'm guessing this has everything to do with Rock Band coming out this morning. Game works pretty well (£5.99, comes with about 20 songs), has a store where songs are bundled in packs of 2 for 59 pence a pair. Just bought Today and Zero by Pumpkins for 59 pence. Works easily, decent system. I support this type of premium DLC.

  • paulf #8 2 years ago

    @zomoniac - dlc for apps you pay for has been around for a while. This change is specifically for apps that initially free, so in the rock band case they could provide a version for free that had say 2 songs then charge you for the other 18 a la xbox live

  • StooMonster #9 2 years ago

    Could be tied into some anti-piracy measures, i.e. the app only gives access to full features when it is authorised?

  • kestral #10 2 years ago

    it already is StooMonster from what I've read.

  • kestral #11 2 years ago

    Good discussion about this on TouchArcade:
    http://to ucharcade.com/2009/10/15/apple-...

  • penhalion #12 2 years ago

    Don't forget that you can drop a review of the game and give it a 1 with your reason being the price was hidden and misleading!

  • Skurmedel #13 2 years ago

    I guess the payments will have to go through iTunes so I guess there's less chance of shady payments going through.

  • smirny #14 2 years ago

    Am I missing something...?? Wasn't this functionality released with ver 3.0 of the OS that came out months ago...?

  • jonsaan #15 2 years ago

    I thought there was now only one version of Tetris on the app store?

  • StooMonster #16 2 years ago

    kestral: oh yes, I should read my iPhone Developer Program announcements more closely. :)

    Interesting to see how this works out, and if it has any effect on iPhone App piracy.

  • photoboy #17 2 years ago

    It's about time they offered this. Hopefully this also means a single rating/review section per game, rather than people writing reviews of the demo and the full version. Plus it's a minor annoyance to have to go and delete the demo when you buy the full thing.

  • paulf #18 2 years ago

    @smirny - for paid apps yes, for free apps no, until now

  • actionfitz #19 2 years ago

    nice. all they need to do now is allow us to use our own fucking songs - bought off itunes btw - as ringtones instead of making us buy everthing twice. fucking money grabbing bastards.
    I must have my Scattman Ringtone!...
    /hides

  • Skurmedel #20 2 years ago

    actionfitz: You can do that, in iTunes 9 as well.. (it's just a Google away, don't know if such links are permitted here)

    I have Pocket Calculator as a ringtone, bought the song on iTunes and "fixed it".

  • actionfitz #21 2 years ago

    @ Skurmedel

    cheers mate.
    I'll get googling.