Get ready to pay more for iPad apps

[sammy]

On the surface, the iPad looks like a pretty good deal. After all, just $499 gets you in the door with the entry-level model, which seems plenty capable for most users.

But there's a dark side to the iPad that's now starting to surface, thanks to leaked videos of the soon-to-be-launched iPad app store. No, the apps themselves look fine: It's the price of the apps that, to be blunt, can be downright exorbitant.

Consumerist took a close look at the apps being marketed for the iPad's launch and found that they're not going to be cheap. Far from it, to be honest. Where 99 cents is a common price point for apps on the iPhone, iPad apps are coming in around $4.99. The cheapest application displayed during the video demo costs $2.99, and one app shown costs $49.99.

On average, for applications that have an equivalent version on the iPhone, the price increase is 96 percent, almost double what you'd pay for the same apps on the smartphone format.

To be fair, these aren't the exact same applications, but rather iPad or "HD" versions of the apps optimized for the larger screen. Most iPhone apps will run on the iPad, but they won't take advantage of the larger resolution screen, so vendors have to rewrite applications for the iPad with the bigger display in mind. That's worth something — but is it worth double, and in some cases five times, the original price? We aren't talking about massive programming undertakings here, but primarily subbing in different graphics that will look better on the iPad's larger screen.

Pricing on iPad applications is far from finalized right now, of course, and vendors probably know the lesson all too well that it is much easier to lower prices over time than it is to raise them. Start high and you're a hero when you cut the cost by a buck or two, but double the price from $.99 to $1.99 and you're a money-grubbing villain.

[Belcross]

Whoever buys into apple products is giving up freedom.