Before in app purchases arrived, you bought an app or game and that was the price you paid. Updates would arrive, sometimes adding some new features, but you knew where you stood on the financial front. Move forward a few years, and we now have in app purchases.

Well we actually have a greed driven in app purchase system and here is why –

1) Freemium – these games really make me sick. There are meant to be free to download and play, but they are certainly not free to play. In fact, these game cost to keep playing and will end up normally costing you the earth. What we need with these games is a range of estimates from the developer as to the true range of costs it would require to finish a game. Problem is with some freemium titles, you have to spend the same amount of money each time you play the game.

2) Games – some games cost money and have in app purchases but without buying these you cannot finish the game. These should be banned, or as above a note in the game description informer the buyer how much is needed in total to be spent to finish a game. Using in app purchases to add a substantial new levels, or purchase optional items that have no impact on the gameplay like a new outfit for your character are fine. What I have found is games bought for £3 are suddenly switched to a new financial model, like freemium or a heavy use of in app purchases. That’s wrong.

3) Apps – in app purchases can be used wisely whereby you get a fully functional app at a low cost, but to add some optional features costs a little bit more. This is fair and reasonable. Two examples of this done well is pcalc and flightradar24 pro.

I really think all the companies with app stores need to monitor abuses with the in app purchasing system. At the moment I believe it has killed off gaming apps due to the excessive use.

5 years ago Apple launched the iPhone. In that time the advances in technology and apps mean your phone can do so much more than make phone calls. Below is a list of what you can do if you had either an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S3 specification device.

1) Phone calls – using cellular or Internet
2) Video calls
3) Messaging
4) Group Messaging
5) Conference calls
6) Satellite Navigation
7) Travel aide – apps providing info
8) Games machine
9) Camera – stills & video
10) Banking services
11) Home automation – turning off and on lights and appliances
12) Paying for goods in physical stores
13) Office tasks
14) Business tasks
15) PIM management
16) Email
17) Store cards / loyalty cards
18) Plane tracking
19) Bus & Trains tracking
20) Scanner
21) Web browsing
22) Music player
23) Tarot readings
24) Cooking aide
25) Fitness tracker
26) Heating controller
27) Weight management
28) Musical instruments or companion to them
29) Security system
30) Remote access to home PC
31) Social networking

And the list could go on and on. The days of just making calls and texts are long gone!

Have you every looked at your new tablet or smartphone and been honest with yourself and said “it is not that much different from my last device”. What is normally different is that it is thinner, faster and has an overall specification bump. But it still does the same job. Advances in technology mean that over the last 2 years the changes in hardware have been very incremental. So what does this mean.

It means we are moving towards companies needing to provide a full blown range of services, and really focus on this. The hardware will always be available. But to survive they will need services.

In the next few years we might see companies like HTC and RIM go out of business. Meanwhile Google and Amazon will blossom. Why? Because their range of services in increasing to be the next big thing, the next I need this service more than I need the hardware. With Google they now have a decent online media store, streaming music option and they also provide search, maps and more types of services. Amazon has the worlds largest offering of anything online, and has now focused their efforts to make this available through themselves using services eg lovefilm and Amazon Cloud. They already have the user base, the cloud and logistics. Amazon IMO is the strongest service provider and the biggest threat to every other company including Google and Apple. Apple provide a number of services. Customer service, iTunes march, Siri and a unique Eco system, iTunes for online media, Apple TV and more. But Apple need more services to compete with its competitors. Amazon can sell you anything, Google now has Google shopper and is branching that way. Apple dominance as making the best looking gear is under threat, as all it takes is another competitor to make low cost competing hardware, but with a stronger range of services and Apple’s brand value will start to diminish.

The world as we know it is changing. Who will be the winners and who will be the losers. Time will tell over the next 18 months to 24 months.