The system of in-app purchase is most often associated with buying your way through games. As a gamer this feels like cheating, as a parent it feels like an attempt to exploit me. The general consensus around the web appears to be that games should charge upfront rather than try and profit from children's demands on their parents to the tune of tens or even hundreds of pounds.
We parents still sweat that leaving in-app purchasing on in Settings might allow one-click spending, even now the process has changed. And sweat we probably should, since children often learn passwords and pin codes for the adult's convenience - when the demands to unlock this and update that become too frequent - and this can return to bite us.
Does this mean the whole system is doomed? Until recently my advice to developers would've been don't bother if you want to win the goodwill of parents and people in general. And still there is a niggle at the back of my head that a paid for app is a more reliable way to ensure ownership than a free app that I've unlocked. But there have been a few apps recently where in-app purchase seems to me to have been put in place correctly. These are as follows.
Procreate
In Procreate it is possible to extend your range of brushes by buying additional ones. The reasons I don't think this unreasonable here, whereas I might in other art apps, are subtle, especially since it is a paid for app in the first instance.First, it is wholly possible to use Procreate without the additional brushes. Second, you can create your own brushes, and if you so wished emulate those that are available to buy. The purchase in that sense is a convenient shortcut. Third, Procreate is an excellent pro-app that could well sell for five or ten times its price but the developer keeps it affordable to all, and I don't therefore begrudge the additional (and minimal) expense.
Interaction of Color
The app of the book by Josef Albers does something simple but effective. It has enough of the content unlocked to provide a real taste of the book and its interactivity, but loads more of the content is inaccessible, and when you select a locked chapter, it doesn't just throw a standard 'give us your money' pop-up at you but instead provides a purchase link along with a link to an in-place video that shows off the features of the app.
Tayasui sketches
This whole app rethinks tablet-based interaction, and the most innovative (and yet simple) thing that it does is to give the option to try the full-version for an hour. Surprisingly, this doesn't appear to be a one-time offer but currently something you can repeat. I've never seen this before and yet it is so obviously a good approach to take.
Namco Arcade
Along the same lines as the 1-hour trial of Tayasui Sketches, Namco Arcade lets you choose any one game a day to play once. The try before you buy enables the developer to increase the price of individual games slightly compared to other similar apps from Activision and Midway, for example, but when compared to the cost of playing the originals the price is still very low.Conclusion
In-app purchasing isn't doomed, but developers need to respect the intelligence of their audience and provide value for money that is both real and perceived. Attempts to 'trick' people into payment has dragged things into the mud, and it is now the time pull things back to where they should be.
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