What are some good iPod/iPhone apps?

Why is there such a great pricing asymmetry between mobile apps and desktop apps?

• AFAICT, the historical price for most desktop apps has hovered around ~$40 to ~$60. This includes video games as well. When mobile apps were first developed, the market appears to have chosen a new price point with many apps costing between ~$1 to ~$2, and almost all other apps costing less than $10. Even for apps that have both a desktop and mobile version, you see this asymmetry. Take Twitterrific for example. It's desktop app version without ads costs $19.95 and it's iPhone app is $1.99 without ads. Both are very similar and share a lot of the same functionality, so why is there such a disconnect in the prices? Why does this price asymmetry exist between these two markets? Which price point is more profitable? Mobile apps with their lower margins and higher volumes or desktop apps with their higher margins and lower volumes?

• Answer:

  The asymmetry is primarily driven by three factors. Competition, Conversion, Fulfillment. Competition - Typically the desktop app space is not as competitive and where there is competition it is not side-by-side competitive. If you want Twitterific vs. Tweetie for the desktop you have to visit two different website.  You're less likely to browse for desktop apps. There's also less competition in general. You won't find 50 desktop twitter apps you may find a handful. Since there is more competition in mobile this drives prices down. Additionally some apps benefit greatly from low prices as this becomes a volume driven business where competitors can't undercut your business.  In desktop apps the product is more likely the differentiator so there is less downward pressure. Conversion - It's much easier to convert a viewer to a buyer with a low price. Since mobile phones handle the conversion it creates incentive to allow people to impulse buy apps. "It's just a couple bucks." Fulfillment - Apple handles the credit card processing and delivery of the application. The developer doesn't have to deal with serial numbers, product delivery or even returns. This greatly lowers cost. Piracy - Yes you can jailbreak a device and download apps freely. On the desktop you don't even need to jailbreak your OS. If a desktop driven app-store existed the same conversion metrics and competition factors and fulfillment would drive prices down. The reason it hasn't been done is that it's primarily up to the OS makers Apple/Microsoft to do a good job with this. It hasn't been done... yet.