The other reason developers love to use in-app purchases is because they are near to impossible to crack. When a certain site was alive, people couldn't even get around the in-app purchase and offer their purchases for free, so developers want to take advantage of that and keep software piracy to a minimum. And I cannot blame them for that either; Sendero are not a huge corporation like Freedom Scientific so they cannot afford to lose money due to piracy. Also, Apple will not allow "time-based use" for apps submitted to the app store. As well as that, Apple take a 3rd of each sale made via the app store. They will not allow developers to "link" to an external website where they can purchase apps, for that same reason that they cannot prophet from app sales. Remember, you are not paying the full price to Sendero for their subscriptions; you are paying 2 thirds of that money to them and a third goes to Apple. (Thanks Jonathan for clarifying.)
-Shaf On 7/4/13, Les Kriegler <kriegle...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Raul, > > I think you are right on this one. Sendero reps certainly are aware of the > request for a trial and I have seen nothing on the beta list I'm on > suggesting that it cannot occur. People may have to vote on this as they > plan to offer an upgrade with three enhancements/features. If this is the > way they plan to proceed and they come out with a feature list as I suspect > they will, I'll bet a trial version will be one of the features requested. > This is speculation on my part, but I'm guessing they will do a one month > trial for somewhere between $5 and $8, but of course, that could all > change. > > Les > On Jul 4, 2013, at 2:22 AM, "Raul A. Gallegos" <r...@raulgallegos.com> > wrote: > >> Hi. I figured I'd start a new thread since this concerns the ability or >> inability of app developers to offer trials for their apps. It's not >> specific to the Sendero Seeing Eye app, although those discussions were >> the catalyst for this message. >> >> I've seen some people ask why the Sendero app can't offer a short trial, 1 >> day, 1 week, 30 days, ETC. Some have answered that it's an Apple >> restrictions, while others have said it's up to the developer. Let me say >> that I am not a developer or an Apple employee. So, what I say is purely >> based on my own personal experience. >> >> I think that if Sendero wanted to offer a trial for a short time, they >> could do it. Note that I'm speaking of the technical ability, not a >> business decision, or the taking into account of overhead. The reason for >> this is because if you download an app from the app store and let's say >> the app itself is free, you are then presented with options of a >> subscription. This could be a monthly subscription, a yearly one, or a >> daily one. So, I believe that as long as your app is obtainable and you >> have written it in such a way that you can offer these in-app purchases, >> then you are good to go. I do not know what all is involved with paying >> Apple for this type of subscription, or if this is a way that some >> developers get around Apple's restrictions. I'll give some examples >> below. >> >> 1. Book apps. Apps like Nook and Audible don't have actual in-app purchase >> capabilities, but if you buy your book on their own site, the app >> downloads the book and you can read. If Sendero did something similar, you >> could get the free app like you do now, then you would purchase your >> subscription from Sendero's web site itself. This way Sendero would have >> total control over what kind of subscription might be offered. This >> doesn't seem like the best solution because when you buy a book, you >> download and it's yours to read as many times as you can, the book doesn't >> actually expire and go back to the site. >> >> 2. Phone apps. An app like Talkatone is free with ads. If you want to get >> rid of ads, you can do so by in-app purchases. Guess what though, the ads >> don't go away forever. No sir they don't. You purchase no ads for a >> monthly subscription or a yearly subscription. This also gives you higher >> quality calls and this way the company has control over what they offer >> you and for how long. If Sender did something like this, and I imagine >> they are, then they control for how long your device and/or Apple ID have >> access to the products the app offers. 1, day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, 3 >> years, ETC. >> >> 3. Separate app purchases. This is a bit older now and not as widely used >> from what I know. This is where you purchase a lite or crippled version of >> the app which is separate than the actual paid version. So, you might get >> a free app with ads, and then if you want the non-ad version, or the >> non-crippled version, you purchase a separate app which actually costs you >> money at the app store. I can see why things like this are going away. It >> makes it so the developer has to maintain more than one app, and it also >> fixes the price with the app store when you purchase the paid app. If >> Sendero did this, the free version might be good for some, but then they >> would have to have 2 other separate apps, one for the year and one for the >> 3 year. It's also possible that technically this is hard to maintain or >> keep track of. >> >> So after all this, it seems that my option 2 is the way they are going. >> Like I said, I don't know the business model, or the costs of overhead in >> offering a short trial for purchase, but if they could do that, perhaps >> some people who are on the fence on whether to get this or not, might >> slide in the right direction. >> >> I know I said this could apply to many different kinds of apps and ended >> up talking about Sendero specifically, but this same reasoning applies to >> many other apps and services. Dice World is one such app. It's free and >> you then can purchase no-ads or custom dice as in-app purchases. >> >> So, I hope this helps some of you when thinking about why the Sendero app >> offers or doesn't offer a demo. I'm not on the GPS list, but if someone >> wants to forward this to them, they are more than welcome. I know many of >> the Sendero folks there, and have a lot of respect for them. >> >> Cheers. >> >> -- >> Raul A. Gallegos >> If you "Friend Request" me on Facebook and your profile picture is a car, >> I will automatically assume you are a Transformer. - Sheldon Cooper >> Twitter and Facebook user ID: rau47 >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" >> Google Group. >> To search the VIPhone public archive, visit >> http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. >> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. >> --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "VIPhone" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. 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