Freemium applications vs. paid applications – which one would you prefer?

If you are “old” enough to hold an iPhone in the hand then surely you know that nothing in this world is free. Whenever a company promotes a free product, makes it because it has something to gain. That’s happening now in App Store where the large manufacturing companies of applications launch important titles for free but make money in other ways. These other methods are called in-app purchase, a business developer that brings more money than payments made on applications that are not free.

A freemium application is basically an application freely available in App Store which not offers to user a complete experience or if it offers has included ads banners. Most of freemium applications are based on in-app purchase and that means you get the application free, but to take advantage of certain features you have to pay something.

On the other hand there are applications for which you pay once and you get the “full package” without advertising banners and without having to buy anything. Such applications don’t bring much money as freemium and developers are beginning to give them up because they are no longer productive. The problem with this kind of application lies in the fact that they can be more easily pirated, so, again we are talking about a big minus for the developer.

In present, the trend is to move to freemium applications that are harder pirated and bring more money, and the producers as Gameloft and EA Games have started the transitioning. I prefer the freemium applications because you can use the application and you must pay only if you feel the need for more, which in 90% of cases, it happens. This model is more suitable for App Store which is beset with applications that promise a thing and do another and for me the freemium model is a better choice.