Apple iPhone software prices may rise
CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Those iPhone applications in your collection might soon cost you more to use if you tap into an array of new features coming your way.
Apple aapl on Tuesday gave a sneak peek of 100 forthcoming software updates for the iPhone, including a feature that lets software developers build in additional charges within an application.
Currently, consumers buy software at the iTunes App Store for a fixed, flat rate.
But beginning this summer, when Apple releases a new version of software for the iPhone and iPod Touch, developers can bring in extra revenue with sales of extra levels of game play; magazine, newspaper and e-book subscriptions; even music purchases that can be played within the game.
"There are other business models developers want to support, and we've been listening," says Apple senior vice president Scott Forstall.
Most of the apps offered through the App Store today are free—and developers won't be able to sell premiums within those apps. Extra charges only work in apps that cost money to own, Forstall said.
The iPhone has been a smash hit for Apple. The company says some 17 million iPhone have sold since its introduction in 2007, along with 13 million iPod Touches. The Touch is basically the feature-packed iPhone without the phone.
The App Store opened in July with some 3,000 applications. It now has 25,000. More than 800,000 apps have been downloaded, Apple says.
Other new features coming to the iPhone :
—Cut and paste. Blocks of text will be able to be copied from an e-mail or document, like on a computer, and pasted elsewhere. That's something iPhone users have been requesting for some time.
—Peer to peer. The technology will allow iPhone apps to connect to one another wirelessly. A game app might search for people nearby area playing the same game. Or, two professionals could point their iPhones together and share contacts.
One application came from a company called Smule, the brainchild of Stanford University professor Ge Wang, who uses the iPhone as a musical instrument hybrid.
Wang and a colleague used the peer to peer feature to play a slide trombone duet from Phantom of the Opera. Over a backing track, the duo hummed into the iPhone microphone, recreating the sound of a harmonic duet.
—Push notification. Forstall says Apple has spent the last six months rewriting its server system to enable instant "push" notifications to iPhone users. Push technology proactively sends information to users. For example, TV sports powerhouse ESPN showed how customers could sign up and get instant sports game results sent directly to their iPhone.
"To get it now, you'd have to visit our website and pull it down," says Oke Okaro, a senior director at ESPN. "Now, we can bring it right to you."
—Spoken word. A new voice memo feature which lets you record memos—or even do interviews—on the iPhone and save them as audio files.
—Search. The Spotlight search tool, a feature of Apple computers, is coming to the iPhone home screen to search within the phone.
When the new software is released, it will be free for iPhone users, and $9.95 for iPod Touch users.
"This is the upgrade Apple needed to do to get people even more interested in the iPhone," says Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies.
Van Baker, an analyst with Gartner, says he believes Apple will have a new iPhone model this summer to go with the new software. Apple declined comment.
"If there are at least a few signs of some optimism economically, then they're in a good position for a good summer and fall."