Other countries set to see the price of apps increase include India and Turkey.
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App Annie’s report also noted that users are launching a lot of apps per month in many markets – over 30, in fact, in places like the U.S., U.K., China, India, Japan Brazil and South Korea. Once the price rises kick in over the next week, App Store prices will be literally pound for dollar.
Worldwide, Super Mario Run is among last year’s Top 10 most downloaded apps, with Pokémon Go taking the top spot. How does £9.99 sound?
As an example of how the increase will impact the current range of apps available across Apple’s platforms, apps which cost $0.99 in the United States will now also cost 99p, up from 79p. While this seems like a steep rise, analysts are suggesting that the pound still has further to fall in the future so it’s likely that Apple is setting a buffer zone should this happen. Apple’s new iPhone 7 starts at £599, against £539 for the previous model, while the prices of some laptops were increased by 20 per cent, according to a new Telegraph report.
This isn’t the first time Apple has increased the price of apps, and it certainly won’t be the last time either. Information about the price hike came in an email to developers, and it will take effect over the next seven days.
The price increase doesn’t apply only to apps and games, but also to in-app purchases. These new rules appear to be created to protect consumers from apps that intentionally steal or victimize users. That means a “Tier 2” app will go from £1.49 to £1.99, while and in-app purchase that now cost £7.99, such as the “All Worlds” upgrade for Super Mario Run, will increase to £9.99.
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Price increases in global markets are fairly common as US -based companies deal with fluctuating currency exchange rates. In fact, at the request of Chinese authorities, Apple removed both the English- and Chinese-language versions of the New York Times’ iOS app from China’s App Store in late December, The New York Times reported yesterday.
