

Ask HN: Can phone apps have monthly fees? - dfragnito

I have been unable to find a phone app with a monthly fee. Is it possible, and if so what would be the major hurdles? I see this 30%  in app purchase nonsense, I assume that would apply?
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aespinoza
I think it makes more sense to charge for a service, more than an an
application. I think applications are seen as 'Products you own'. It might not
be true.

Evernote for exmaple charges for the cloud storage and services provided by
their web app and cloud implementation, the iphone app is really just another
channel.

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dfragnito
I understand what's involved now.

This separation of an "app" from it's service component is a step backwards.
It's my belief that "software" is a service. But we will play this game for
now until eventually everyone comes to their sense and all apps become web
apps. I am with Mozilla on this one.

In the end I just want to serve markup to a browser and then all will be good.

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gte910h
Apple doesn't allow autorenewing fees for "just apps". You have to be
basically a magazine that makes episodic content the end user ends up owning.

You can use their non-renewing subscription, 30% still applies, and renewing
is a bit of a hassle.

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AznHisoka
Yep apps can have monthly fees. Think about diet programs like Weight Watchers
where you the tools come with the monthly program. No major hurdles except
coming up with that product in the first place.

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CptCodeMonkey
I use the jailbreak only Groove Shark app plus the Pandora music app. Both
have annual/monthly fee's attached which is fine because I am paying for the
service they provide.

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dfragnito
Thanks for the reply. I am interested in the issues involved in developing a
phone app with monthly fees (I should of made that more clear). I will take a
closer look at Pandora and see how they implemented their subscription model
in their phone app.

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revorad
One way to bypass the app store restricitons is to charge separately on the
web, like Instapaper does.

