Re: Paid apps

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

As google are offering me 95% off a item from the play store, has
anyone got any recommendations for paid for apps (not games/films)?
 
I can't think of any I've been putting-off buying ...

Is that Google offering the discount, or the app author(s)?  Google only
gets a commission on sales.  They cannot change prices the app authors
mandate.  The app authors monetize their apps.  A slice of that goes to
Google.  Besides the initial $25 registration fee to get an app added to
the Play Store, Google's commission can be up to 30% which goes down to
15% after a year.  Even if Google decided to momentarily drop their
commission on app sales, that would only drop prices to 70% to 85%, not
down to 5% (with a 95% drop).

https://play.google.com/store/

I didn't see a banner or ad from Google claiming they could undercut
prices asked by app authors.  Google could work with select app authors
to get the app authors to momentarily reduce prices for some sale event.

Maybe there is some sales event hosted by Google where the app authors
still get their contracted price, Google temporarily discards their
commission, and Google temporarily refunds (subsidizes) the app authors
the difference in price.

App authors can run pricing experiments trying to find out how much the
market will bear, and determine a sweet spot on pricing.  But that's the
app author's decision, not a global decision forced across all app
authors, and Google isn't involved other than to get their commission.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/13343030?hl=en

So, where did you see Play Store apps were getting forcibly reduced for
all apps to 95% of their prior price?  I'm sure other Android users
would like to know the official Google announcement or their sales
event.

Maybe it's just you they are offering a 95% drop in price, like they
sent you a coupon as a lure to buy more than the coupon offers.  It's
why grocery stores and product makers offer coupons: they want you to
get lured to buying, and hope you buy more.  If you got an e-mail saying
you get 95% off, you sure it came from Google?

Considering the apps for which I've paid are pretty cheap in price, like
a couple dollars, a 95% reduction wouldn't have much lure to me.  I'd
save all of a nearly couple dollars.  If I was that tight on money, I
wouldn't be buying any apps, and couldn't even afford the cellular
service for the phone.

Google's Play Store does not let you build a wish list of stuff you
think you might buy one day.  So, sorry, I don't have a wish list for
you, plus what I'd want is not likely to match what you want.