This post at The Next Web made me stop and think for a moment. I’ve been one of the many people who’ll cheerfully spend a dollar or two on an app that looks enticing and has generally good reviews.
After all, a dollar or two is nothing, right? Less than a cup of coffee, less than a pint of beer in my local pub.
But what’s the cumulative effect? Let’s see now… Open iTunes, click iTunes Store, click on my account ID, enter my password, click “Purchase History”, do some adding up, and the total is:
£68.60, or US$99.70 at the current exchange rate.
One hundred bucks, near as dammit, on iPhone apps. Wow. I had no idea was going to be that much. I was expecting about half that.
It also highlights just what an excellent idea the App Store is, and how well it has been designed. Shopping there is so simple, so instantaneous, and often so cheap per-app, that it almost becomes a thoughtless act. “This app looks cool. I’ll try it.” A dollar here, a few dollars there.
I’m not complaining, I’m just noticing my own App Store spending habits for the first time. This information is available to anyone who goes digging around inside iTunes to see it, but perhaps Apple could make it a little easier to keep track of spending.
How about a small box on the iTunes Store front page, which says “So far this month/year/to date, you have spent $X on iTunes.”?
Something small and unobtrusive; but visible.
Confession time: how much have you spent? And is it more or less than you expected?
