Customers must quality for discounted prices

Apple may soon allow for in-app paid upgrades, as indicated by an iTunes dialog posted on Twitter by developer Fraser Speirs. The alert notifies customers that a certain discounted price is only available for users who own a previous version of the item. The dialog allegedly surfaced when Speirs attempted to update all of his apps.

Developers are currently limited to offering new content as in-app purchases, rather than upgrades. As paid apps continue to be updated with major revisions, the latest versions are available as free downloads for current users or paid downloads for new customers. There is currently no way to allow owners of previous versions to obtain an update at a discounted price.

Apple has yet to announce any changes to its policies regarding in-app purchases. Despite the interesting wording of the dialog box, it is still unclear if the company plans to make the system more flexible.

by MacNN Staff