This could affect the in-app purchase model.

[stevefromio]

check this out; could be big: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-agrees-refund-32-5m-082622708.html;_ylt=A0oG7hdHEthSXwQAZvpXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0MHBvMHF2BHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1ZJUDI4MV8x

[Aphrodite]

I don't even know why buyingin-app purchase can be done so easily, It is online payment, so a child should not be able to do it that easily, maybe it is the way they set up their payments informations, either way, a more secure way to identify who is paying is better I think, but I don't know how old apps will do with that.

 

[stevefromio]

Do you IMAGINE how many people are going to claim unwanted in-app purchases by their children, dogs, cat, and gerbils? I don't know if Apple is taking the hit, but rest assured, they will be hitting the developers soon, if they haven't already.

 

What stops me from getting bored over Candy Crush, then asking for my $250 backs? I wonder how this is going to play out.

[Aphrodite]

I didn't saw it that way

Indeed that could be abused (hope it doesn't though), so it is in the interest of all to make sure that this cannot happen anymore. I don't know how Apple tend to react in these kind of cases, I don't think they can charge the devs in that case, but I could be wrong. Time will tell

[stevefromio]

I agree with your premise completely. It was crazy easy to make in-app purchases, and that is wrong. I was more wondering how this is going to effect developer's margins in the future.

[Chris]

Sorry guys, I don't get it.

 

You need to enter your Apple-ID password in order to buy something on your iPad/iPhone. Okay, after you did that, you don't need to enter it again for 15 minutes and can theoretically buy everything you want to in that 15 minutes until it asks for the password again.

 

HOW IN HE WORLD was the boy of Miss Nussbaum able to spend SIXHUNDRED dollars on in-app purchases?

Did he knew his mothers Apple-ID password? If so, dumb mother, sorry.

Or did he hand the iPad over to his mother with words like "mommy, it asks for your password agaaaain [/eric cartman voice]". If so, dumb mother again not questioning why her password is needed.

 

Honestly. You don't hand your child a purse full of money and place him inside a toys'r'us and expect nothing bad to happen.

 

Its a generous move of apple to refund a total of 32 million dollar (it would propably cost them more to fight the legal fights, not thinking of the damage on their image), but imho the whole problem goes back about parents not caring what their children do.

 

And you can't tell me that a ten year old boy who gets a message like "would you really like to buy [iTEM-X] for a total of $4.99?" can't understand what he's being asked and that he's spending REAL MONEY!

[stevefromio]

In some way it is the consumers fault. They want $49.00 games for free, and expect it. The market caught on and started this in-app model, which the parents probably don't understand.

 

When you download something that says FREE though, that is what you expect. I hope the in-app purchases do go away and developers start charging up-front. I think it will be better for developers and consumers in the long run. You don't get anything for free, and consumers need to know that.

 

Chris, look at the cool tech. you showed us the other day. Can you say awesome loud enough. Why should you have to (if you wanted to) pretend to sell it for free, and offer in-app purchases like you are trying to hide something? What you build is awesome, and people have to learn to pay for awesome.