A redesigned iOS is on its way later this year. And with it comes a drastically different looking experience than what we’ve grown accustomed to since 2007. The extent of the overhaul has led some devs to wonder if it’s worth charging you again for an iOS 7 update. Would you pay?
The question was first posed by Gedeon Maheux, co-founder of the Iconfactory.
I’m sure many users are expecting developers of popular applications to simply update interface elements, compile some code and easily drop a brand spanking new version of their app onto the App Store for free. There’s little doubt that the majority of iOS 7 updates to existing apps will be free (which will please Apple), but I suspect there will be a surprising number of developers who will use the launch of the new operating system to completely re-boot their app, and why not? The visual and interactive paradigms iOS 7 mark a natural breaking off point and a perfect opportunity to re-coup costs. Some existing paid apps might even adopt an iOS 7 only strategy which means they’ll have no choice but to charge again.
There’s undoubtedly lots of time, effort and money that would go into redesigning current apps to look and feel more like iOS 7. But is anyone really willing to pay to upgrade? Keep in mind that people went apeshit when Tweetie was upgraded to version 2 and Loren Brichter was charging everyone $3 for what was essentially a brand new app.
Should developers decide to redesign their apps for iOS 7 and charge for the update, would you be willing to pay for apps you already own?