Apple has introduced new pricing tiers for Indian users. The company now allows developers to price their Apps in India on App Store for as low as Rs. 10. The new pricing model is live for all iPhone, iPad and iPod devices running on iOS.
Until now Developers could set the pricing in US Dollars only. The base pricing for Indian users was Rs. 60 which is equal to 0.99 USD. But now with the new pricing tiers, the Apps in App Store are available for as low as 10 INR.
The new low pricing tiers have been introduced in Indian, Indonesian, Mexican, Russian, South African, and Turkish App Stores. The Alternate Tier A and Alternate Tier B are available for the list of countries listed above.
Soon after Apple announced the new cheaper pricing tiers, several top developers rushed to adopt the new pricing model. Now many of the paid apps are priced at Rs. 10 instead of regular Rs. 60.
Indian users will find the new pricing model very attractive. For many Indian, buying apps at Rs. 60 can be very costly but buying apps at Rs. 10($0.158) will be lot cheaper.
For developers, it might not be good thing, as they will be getting 1/6th of money. But in my opinion, Something is better than nothing. So it is a win-win situations for both customers and developers.
It is good that Apple is concentrating on developing markets. But apart from new pricing model, Apple should add more payment gateways in India. The App Store currently accepts Credit Cards and some Debit cards in India. It should also introduce carrier pricing on its App Store.
