samuel.bowles.es

I, like John Gruber , believe that Apple's recent announcement that free applications can now include in-app purchases is a big deal. And it follows that many developers will want to consolidate their Lite & Pro applications into these new free-to-paid applications. There's a problem though: how do you manage the transition?

In Marco Arment 's recent post, In-App Purchase now available for free apps he mentions that, "there's no practical way to transition the existing paid customers to a new "free+" version". Below I will propose a possible solution to this transition (if Apple allows it) along with a number of other potential models that these changes could usher in.

And without further adieu I present you with:

Potential ways Apple's new free-to-paid application purchase scheme could be used by developers. None of which have been either confirmed or denied by Apple as legitimate uses of the system and therefore require further clarification most likely achieved through direct testing of The Great Black Box which is the App Store approval process.

Migration from Lite & Pro applications to free-to-paid applications

1. Create a free-to-paid application that provides all features from both previous applications with the Pro features behind an in-app pay-wall. Create a back door around the pay-wall enabling the pro features by way of a "promo code".
2. Upgrade your Lite app with this new code.
3. Create a new version of your Pro app that includes a slightly annoying screen each time the user starts the app explaining how to get a copy of the new version.
   1. Download the free-to-paid app
   2. Use this promo code to unlock the pro features (include an unlocking promo code)

Unlimited promo codes

1. Create a free-to-paid application with a way around the pay-wall using promo codes.

Desktop & iPhone application bundles

1. Create a free-to-paid application with a way around the pay-wall using promo codes.
2. Provide one of these codes with the purchase of your desktop application.

Time limited access to additional features

1. Create an application with two feature sets which we'll call Lite and Pro.
2. Comply with Apple's requirements by making sure the Lite version is useful and usable independent of the pro features.
3. Enable the pro features upon download on a time-limited basis.
4. Once the time-limit has passed require the user to make an in-app purchase in order to keep them permanently.

A few of these (rightly or wrongly) will most likely be disallowed by Apple as they would be seen as an end-route around their commerce platform (see Desktop & iPhone app bundles, and Unlimited promo codes) but some of them seem like legitimate uses to me even according to Apple's playbook. Only time will tell if any of these models are adopted and approved.