Location : Cupertino, California. Date : 17.03.2009. Time : 10:00 AM . The new iPhone OS 3.0 to be announced. You can listen to Coldplay than Jack Johnson. And , let the game begin….
SDK
First thing on the list was about about what Apple’s doing for developers in 3.0. The SDK gives developers the same APIs and tools that they use (almost, there are some parts of the phone hidden for security and performance reasons). 3.0 brings 1,000 new APIs.
App Store enhancements
Some developers have said they like to have other business models other than the current sell-once model that’s in the App Store. What are some? Subscriptions for magazine developers, additional levels for game devs, and eBook devs, who want to sell one app and sell eBooks inside the app. They’re supporting ALL of these things now with In App Purchase.
Inside the app you will get prompts like continuing to purchase issues of magazines (6 issues for $5, for example), or buying more levels (add ten more levels for a game for $2).
It uses the same iTunes password and username, using the same APIs and same purchase scheme.
Another example is for city guides. Instead of selling a huge city guide app, you can sell one city guide app, then sell each individual city separately (and for more money) inside the app. The entire scheme is tied into the iTunes store.
The business model for in-app purchase is the same as the store. The developer sets the price for each in-app item, 70% of the revenue goes to the developer, and there are no credit card fees. They continue to be paid monthly. This is ONLY for paid apps, not for a free app that developers want to charge for once you’ve already downloaded it.So in essence, free apps are still totally free. You won’t be tricked into paying for anything.