Apps that tick me off

By
On October 3, 2009

App StoreThe App Store in iTunes is now overflowing with various sorts of apps.  Most of them are pretty cool and reasonably priced for what they offer (those that aren’t don’t last long).  However, there are a few certain types of apps that are becoming more prevalent that I find annoying and hope the trend does not continue.

The nickname for apps that are of low quality for their value tend to be nicknamed "crApps".  I will try to use my own cute nicknames for the types of apps that I refer to.

1.  trApps – These are the applications that charge for the initial download then charge some sort of unpublished fee later on for further use of the app’s capabilities.  Apps such as Inside Redbox Mobile are examples of this.  This app recently offered a free download of their "pro" version but only offers the "gold" version (which has full capabilities) after a $20 fee is charged to the user.  I wonder if Apple or even AT&T is aware of this, since they likely aren’t involved in the collection of this fee.  Since these hidden charges seem like a trap, I thought "trApps" was appropriate.

2.  cApps – These are apps that charge for upgrades.  Granted, Apple itself can be said to practice this since it charges to operating system upgrades to the iPod Touch, but the cost tends to be a token amount (usually $10) and there are usually new features, so it doesn’t seem like that much.  I can’t name any particular app that does this (yet), but I’d be peeved if a company released a new version of the same app under a different or sequel name and the user had to pay for it all over again.  In effect, they’re capping the service.  Hence, "cApps".

What other underhanded tactics are developers using in App Store sales that tick you off?