And why are you under the delusion that price is related to the amount of work?
Very often, the inverse is true.
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Developers should really be making Universal apps
- Thread starter darwen
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And why are you under the delusion that price is related to the amount of work?
Very often, the inverse is true.
Not at all, that's why the pixel-doubling compatibility mode is there. You certainly can run any iPhone app on an iPad. But reimplementing the interface for a larger screen takes time and resources, and developers deserve to be compensated for that, whether you want to pay for it or not is your problem.
It's much more difficult to go from a highly optimized 480x320 display to 1024x768 than it is to go from, say 1024x768 to 1280x960 (as in your desktop example), which is why I think screen increases on iPads won't be the same deal. You don't need to redesign the interface in that case.
Going the opposite direction (1024x768 to 480x320) is even more difficult, there are many iPad apps that simple couldn't work on the iPhone, and the rest would require significant changes. If you're asking for iPad developers to also develop iPhone versions for free, you're being unreasonable. Either you're Asking then to do a lot of work for free (time they could be spending other apps or fixing bugs), or you're asking them to write their apps to the lowest common denominator, which will mean all those beautifully crafted iPad apps will begin to be crapware that loses its advantage.
This isn't how software has EVER worked. If you buy photoshop for your Mac Pro, but the license agreement you are allowed to install in THERE ONLY. You can't [legally] install it on your MacBook too. You are supposed to buy it again for another computer.
What WOULD be cool is if they offered the equivalent to "family packs" where for a small fee you could install it on up to 5 iPads, or any combination of iPhones and iPads...
From what I've seen, some developers are doing things like that.
If the graphics production was done correctly in the first place, then it's just a matter of re-rendering/exporting the graphics at a higher resolution. If they weren't, then that is hardly the customer's fault. Of course some apps need a new layout or changes to functionality to take advantage of the increased real estate, but this stuff about it being SO MUCH just to upgrade to HD graphics is nonsense.
Devs can do whatever they want, but except in very rare circumstances I won't pay for the same app twice. If I bought it on iPad I won't buy again for iPhone and vice-versa.
Devs can do whatever they want, but except in very rare circumstances I won't pay for the same app twice. If I bought it on iPad I won't buy again for iPhone and vice-versa.
I was frustrated like the OP was about re buying iPad apps. I contacted the maker of TanZen, currently $1 on the iPhone and $3 on the iPad. I was pretty miffed that I had to re buy it and at 3 times the price of the iPhone version. Here are some thoughts:
-He said he spent $15,000 on the iPad version. I was very surprised by this, most dev work is $100 - $150 per hour, at $125/hr that's 120 hours. Anyone who plays the game knows that graphically there isn't much to it. There are no extra features, nothing. Just increased resolution. You can take that as development takes much longer than we think or you can take that as some people are overpaying developers, but I don't think he's lying about the $15K
-Sometimes, iPhone apps are cheaper then iPad apps because the price drops over time. We'll stick with TanZen, it looks bad that the iPad version is $3 as apposed to the $1 iPhone version, but a quick look at appshopper reveals that the iPhone version was $3 as well when it debuted. iPad app prices will drop over time as well.
-In terms of pricing we have to remember that these are not marketing firms or companies but real everyday people. The pricing isn't always going to make sense and unreasonable things do happen.
-Just because your game sold well for $3 2 years ago on the iPhone doesn't mean it's worth $3 today. Take TanZen, when you have a $1 version on the store, the $3 version better be 3 times better, or else you loose value. Why pay $3 for the iPad app in which graphics don't matter in the slightest, there are no new features AND you can't play it on the iPhone? Tanzen is a GREAT game for the iPhone, the iPad version is almost crippled because you can't play it on the iPhone, yet it is 3 times the price.
-TanZen for the iPad is not in the top 100, the iPhone game was a top 100 game for a long long time. I don't know how well it's selling, but it's not doing stellar.
I hate picking on the guy, I think his app is great. It could just be that development costs are a lot higher then we think.
-He said he spent $15,000 on the iPad version. I was very surprised by this, most dev work is $100 - $150 per hour, at $125/hr that's 120 hours. Anyone who plays the game knows that graphically there isn't much to it. There are no extra features, nothing. Just increased resolution. You can take that as development takes much longer than we think or you can take that as some people are overpaying developers, but I don't think he's lying about the $15K
-Sometimes, iPhone apps are cheaper then iPad apps because the price drops over time. We'll stick with TanZen, it looks bad that the iPad version is $3 as apposed to the $1 iPhone version, but a quick look at appshopper reveals that the iPhone version was $3 as well when it debuted. iPad app prices will drop over time as well.
-In terms of pricing we have to remember that these are not marketing firms or companies but real everyday people. The pricing isn't always going to make sense and unreasonable things do happen.
-Just because your game sold well for $3 2 years ago on the iPhone doesn't mean it's worth $3 today. Take TanZen, when you have a $1 version on the store, the $3 version better be 3 times better, or else you loose value. Why pay $3 for the iPad app in which graphics don't matter in the slightest, there are no new features AND you can't play it on the iPhone? Tanzen is a GREAT game for the iPhone, the iPad version is almost crippled because you can't play it on the iPhone, yet it is 3 times the price.
-TanZen for the iPad is not in the top 100, the iPhone game was a top 100 game for a long long time. I don't know how well it's selling, but it's not doing stellar.
I hate picking on the guy, I think his app is great. It could just be that development costs are a lot higher then we think.
Miffed enough to spend the time, effort and costs to develop a competing app yourself and sell it for less than $3?
If that's not worth it for you, why should it be worth it for any developer?
No it's not my problem. I'll just buy the competitions product when they deliver what I want. It's a free market and I don't have to give two shitz about your damn textures. Frankly I'm tired of reading this BS. A majority of the iPad apps are using standard UI. GoodReader on the iPad looks pretty much like a larger version of the iPhone version. Apple "does" include standard UI elements making it easy to create basic apps. If you want to do something like AwesomeNote or the Evernote iPad app that takes time and effort because all the UI elements are indeed custom.
The "Textures" excuse is a red herring. If a game studio is rendering out artwork they're going to do it in the highest resolution that makes sense (often HD) because it's easy to convert the data down to fit lower end devices. This is how visual effects in video are done this is how audio production is done and many other areas.
Let's clarify something there. The OP isn't saying that he wants Universal apps for free. He's likely inferring that the odds of an iPad user also being an iPhone/iPod Touch are pretty high and thus developers targeting iPad apps should be looking at effective pricing and marketing strategy for delivering Universal apps. I don't think anyone here is really asking for "free" I'm willing to pay a premium but i'm not willing to pay 2x or 3x in many circumstances.
Read the friggin post. I was miffed so I asked him a few questions to try and find out more and understand. I was NOT complaining.