FIXZR

Conspricacy theories are more fun than reality, so in that spirit here’s a theory. Watch Apple’s latest presentation on the iPhone OS v3.0. Apple are introducing some wonderful new features, and their new payments options will make it a even more powerful platform for commerce. But there’s a quick throw away comment, delivered almost as a true-ism that ‘free Apps will remain free’. Now what I heard here was - under no circumstances will Apps be allowed to employ alternative payment mechanism. Apple doesn’t want ‘free’ Apps being listed which 5 days later (once you’re hooked) ask you to pay to keep using them (pay by PayPal that is with 0% going to Apple instead of 30% in line with their Appstore Fees). The same trick may be harder for google to enforce on the Android Market where google checkout is used. Android Market fees are 30%, ordinary Google Checkout fees are closer to 3% - could a 1 day free trial help you save 27 percentage points?