There’s a debate going on amongst the technology pundits – will users pay for mobile apps ? This is a very pertinent question for this multi billion dollar industry. Why would developers continue to invest money if they can’t make users pay for it.
As per the current data, more than 90% of the mobile apps are free. This is a price which no one can beat. Who doesn’t like a free lunch? When users start getting good enough apps for free, it becomes very difficult to make them pay. We saw this in the case of desktops also.
When open source movement became strong enough, many users stopped using their enterprise softwares for which they were paying hefty amounts, and switched to open source alternatives. Open source offerings have been increasing at a rapid pace along with the community using them.
However, we’ve also seen that even though the usage of open source software grew manifold, paid software also survived. While Linux users grew exponentially, Windows retained its numero uno position. Same holds true for other softwares also. There are instances where there’s a basic version which is free and a premium version for which users have to pay. In my opinion, the same may happen in the mobile apps segment. A large part of the apps may be free but users would be ready to pay for those in the niche areas. There might be basic apps which are free but those with advanced features would be able to charge a premium.
There’s space for everyone. The pie is so BIG !!!