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To date, Apple has sold roughly forty million iPhones, with an additional four million iPads being sold in the last few months alone. With such a large installed base, by far the largest for any smart phone or tablet device, naturally the audience is being aggressively targeted by Internet Marketing experts. Along with all of those devices are nearly a quarter of a million iPhone Apps. Initially thought to be an incredible cash cow for developers, these apps have turned out to be a bit trickier than originally thought, in terms of turning a profit. Many of the apps in the Apple app store are labeled as free, and can be easily downloaded at no cost. Labeling an app as free does have certain undeniable advantages. For starters, there is and will always be a large contingent of users that simply refuse to take a chance and pay for any apps. Additionally, free apps are given their own category in the app store, guaranteeing eyeballs will at least glance at the title and brief description. Furthermore, free apps are much easier to disseminate to reviewers and bloggers, allowing the app a lot of free and hassle-free coverage. However, with the advantages and opportunities free apps bring to developers and Online Marketing companies, there remains some drawbacks for consumers. In this article we will examine some ways in which free iPhone apps trick the consumer into downloading an app and expecting an experience they do not always receive.

High Advertisement Volume – Here is a typical scenario that unfolds every day. A user will navigate their iPhone, iPad or other mobile device to the related app store. The user will filter the store content by removing paid applications from the list, leaving only the free apps to browse through. The available applications are somewhat staggering, as there are literally tens of thousands of apps to sort through. The user will further filter their search by genre, and then eventually find an app that suits their needs or seems interesting. The app will be clearly labeled as free, and the accompanying description will explain the app and how it works clearly enough that the user goes ahead and downloads and installs the application.

Once installed, the user will run the application to see if its performance suits their needs as well as desired. Unfortunately, they are greeted by an application that is filled with advertisements. There are ads present at all times either on the top or bottom of the screen, the load screens are filled with advertisements, and there is a running ticker of text ads when the app is being used. There is, however, a solution to this abundance of advertisements, and it involves paying for a non ad-supported version of the app.

This type of practice would be acceptable if the ad content, and availability of a premium version of the app, were mentioned in the description. In too many cases, however, the app descriptions fail to mention the fact that the app is ad supported and a premium price is expected to remove the ads from the user’s experience. This type of trickery may be successful in some cases, but most of the time it merely inspires frustration on the part of the user, who will promptly delete the app in response to the disingenuous presentation of the app. Clearly a free app is difficult for any developer to justify. That does not, however, mean that app descriptions should be less than genuine, or that an app should be labeled as free, when there is really a cash transaction in the mind of the developer. It is simply dishonest, immoral and today’s savvy users will most certainly respond to it in a negative manner.

macmost.com Gary Rosenzweig looks at seven free iPhone applications: Google Earth, iTalk, Fring, Fonts, Translator, Wikipandion and FaceBook. You can find iPhone Apps using the MacMost iPhone App directory at macmost.com .
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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