What's new

Apple Is Going To Start Doing App Rentals

  • Thread starter XxSOMEJ3WxX
  • Start date
  • Views 437
Status
Not open for further replies.
XxSOMEJ3WxX

XxSOMEJ3WxX

J3W CR3W
Retired
Legendary Veteran Chatty Kathy Mr. Nice Guy
Messages
3,279
Reaction score
939
Points
565
Sin$
7
"Apps are automatically removed from your iTunes library at the end of the rental period" is, of course, the line of code that peaked Dickson's interest. iOS app rentals would be an interesting development, but pose a ton of questions. Currently there are a massive number of free applications and free versions of applications that many user’s are comfortable purchasing instead of their paid-for variants, could users rent free apps? Also, most applications do not cost enough to warrant a rental period. How much do you charge to rent a $5 application, or even worse a $.99 application? These aren’t cars or pieces of physical equipment, and can be easily copied once rented.

However, expensive medicine related applications or GPS apps could benefit from cheaper rental prices. Still, Apple isn’t notorious for providing features that will only be used by a small portion of the population. A recent ruling against Apple’s iTune’s return policy in South Korea forced Apple to allow the refund of app sales. This could be a driving force behind Apple renting applications.

So far I’ve only speculated about iOS apps being available for rent, but the line of code could very well be in reference to full blown OS X applications. This would make tons more sense than renting iOS apps, as many media editing applications can cost an arm and a leg. Renting Photoshop for a week, or Final Cut X when you need it could be more cost effective than laying down hundreds or even thousands of dollars for an application.

The idea is novel, but would you rent an app? What kinds of apps would you rent? The upside is lead generation I suppose, where people would buy the app if they found it useful enough. This could make free or “lite” versions of apps less popular, developers instead could opt for a cheap rental period to try to woo customers.


 
Josh

Josh

Seasoned Member
Grizzled Veteran Forum Addict Grammar Nazi
Messages
4,672
Reaction score
698
Points
535
Sin$
0
Oh+Hell+No_89b464_1749126.gif
 
Flying Taco

Flying Taco

Contributor
Mr. Nice Guy Forum Addict
Messages
2,915
Reaction score
902
Points
355
Sin$
0
Besides getting rid of demo app clutter, i really do not see the advantage of Apple implementing this.

I mean wouldn't it make piracy that much easier, just changing the code to something such as this:

Code:
AppRented = false
 
XxSOMEJ3WxX

XxSOMEJ3WxX

J3W CR3W
Retired
Legendary Veteran Chatty Kathy Mr. Nice Guy
Messages
3,279
Reaction score
939
Points
565
Sin$
7
Besides getting rid of demo app clutter, i really do not see the advantage of Apple implementing this.

I mean wouldn't it make piracy that much easier, just changing the code to something such as this:

Code:
AppRented = false

Quite possibly.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Login
Register