

Top iOS apps available for free ahead of App Store 5th anniversary - blueveek
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/07/08/apple-makes-top-ios-apps-free-ahead-of-app-store-5th-anniversary/

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k-mcgrady
AFAIK this is just speculation. Some apps are currently being given away for
free when they are usually sold at a price. Their has been no announcement
from Apple of the companies so it's been speculated they are free in
celebration of the App Store's 5th anniversary. If Apple was involved in this
they would most likely feature it on the store. As of now that hasn't happened
so I doubt Apple is involved.

Edit: If Apple was involved they would probably make some of their own apps
free.

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sunnynagra
Heading over to the App Store will show a special section where they
specifically say they are giving the apps away for free because of the
anniversary.

~~~
smackfu
Yep.

>To celebrate, we're giving everyone five landmark games and five
groundbreaking apps for a limited time.

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joejohnson
I always download all of these apps when they are free. Even if I immediately
delete the app after downloading, it will always be free for me to re-download
with the same Apple ID.

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simonbarker87
So is this Apple making them free and so paying the developers the missed
revenue or is it the developers making them free of their own accord/at
Apple's urging?

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stevekinney
I suspect the developers are taking the hit in the name of free publicity. I
know that when Marco Arment allowed Apple and Starbucks to give away
Instapaper, he didn't receive any compensation.

When I saw this link, I expected that Apple was making _their_ apps (e.g.
Pages, Keynote, Numbers) free ahead of the anniversary of their App Store.
Apparently, that's not the case.

~~~
simonbarker87
Thanks and yes, that's what I thought - was looking forward to grabbing a free
copy of numbers for iPhone - ohwell

~~~
mitchty
I've heard from other ios developers that the added exposure tends to cause
huge effects later on in sales though. So it might not be so bad for them?

From hearing about the free deals though it doesn't sound like it ends up a
losing proposition. Can anyone thats done one of these free/featured apps on
the store validate? I'm super curious now.

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clarky07
I've done free deals in the past, and sometimes it works out nicely. Getting
lots of downloads tends to move you up in the charts and search results, some
of which lasts when it moves back to paid.

There are also obvious benefits to having more users such as more word of
mouth, more (hopefully good) reviews, etc.

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kmfrk
List with even more apps:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1humo9/ios_apps_and_g...](http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1humo9/ios_apps_and_games_go_free_ahead_of_app_stores/).

~~~
clarky07
Shameless plug. I made a few of my apps free for the anniversary as well.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/run-tracker-gps-fitness-
trac...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/run-tracker-gps-fitness-
tracking/id453027672?ls=1&mt=8)

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speedometer+/id468447112?ls=...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speedometer+/id468447112?ls=1&mt=8)

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/debt-
snowball+/id516229756?l...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/debt-
snowball+/id516229756?ls=1&mt=8)

~~~
hnriot
The sppedometer+ app has a weird logo, it seems to show a weigh scale, like in
the bathroom, which is not only skeuomorphic, but misleadingly skeuomorphic?

~~~
clarky07
definitely not intended to be scale, but rather old analog speedometer.

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canistr
I love Day One and had already bought it. But I wish it was the Mac version
that was free. The price is rather steep.

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thoughtsimple
Apple did nothing--the app owners did. Why is this still on the front page?

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smackfu
I think it's still unclear. The fact that none of these apps updated their
description to say they were free is odd and unusual.

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mikeash
I believe you can no longer update an app's description without also updating
the app itself.

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xuki
Just the keywords and screenshots. Description can be changed without new
submission.

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mikeash
Huh, don't know how I got the impression that description was included.
Thanks.

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Domenic_S
Literally bought Infinity Blade II 2 days ago for $6.99. Kind of annoying.

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ameen
Truth be told, it's worth that much. One of the best games on a tablet ever.
Not just visually, but the entire experience - Gameplay, Character
progression, Replayability, etc.

