As part of its efforts to highlight human curation-led discovery in the App Store, Apple is shining a light on different app-based business models and content types.
In the latest illustration of this, it is directing users to subscription-based apps offering free trials. The new section can be found in the “Apps” section of the App Store, and is titled “Try It For Free.”
Right now, Apple is showcasing four apps: 1Password, USA Today, Lake: Coloring Books, and Panna: Video Recipes, each of which comes with a free trial. All of these apps previously offered a free trial, but by highlighting them Apple no doubt hopes that it will raise awareness of the feature.
Photo: Apple
Apps offering app-based subscriptions dates back to early 2011, when the short-lived iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, launched at a subscription cost of 99 cents per week. The feature was initially exclusive to The Daily, but Apple quickly expanded it “for all publishers of content-based apps” in mid-February, 2011.
Over time, Apple has slightly amended the way in which its subscriptions are handled. Today, if a developer is able to keep a customer subscribed for over one year, their revenue split split will go from 30/70 to 15/85.
Although the App Store is phenomenally successful for Apple, app discovery has long been a point of contention, particularly as the App Store has grown to its enormous current size. Having undergone a redesign with iOS 11, hopefully Apple will continue to prioritize the publicizing of innovative apps available for sale.
Via: 9to5Mac
