It is interesting how the iPhone’s App Store psychology works. Developers are having trouble because people seem unwilling to shell out money for the apps–sometimes even when the app costs only a dollar or two. Free versions have their perils–make them too good, and people won’t pay for the full version; make them too annoying or limited, and people will be turned off. “Comet Cowboy” was a good example of balance–they made the free version fun and addictive, so you wanted to buy the paid version. (I did.) It would be nice to have Demo versions that would work for a limited time, especially for the more expensive apps. The problem is, if Apple did that, then free apps would likely dry up quite a bit.

I find myself reacting to prices unreasonably as well. Normally, I don’t even blink at dropping a few bucks here and there–taking a bus where I could walk, buying a snack or something, buying a song off of iTunes. But for some reason, I balk at paying even 99 cents for an app which I probably would enjoy a lot more than a bus ride or a quick snack. Strange how that works–context can make a big difference.

There’s a similar effect with currencies: many people find themselves unwilling to pay an amount in one currency which they would not think twice about spending if the price were expressed in a different currency.