Josh Lehman: ‘Stop Using the Cup of Coffee vs. $0.99 App Analogy’: If Starbucks gave out free coffee every day there would be mile-long lines at the drive thru. If the free coffee was anywhere close to as good as their paid stuff people would abandon the paid en masse. Some would pay maybe because they felt bad, as a freeloader. Others would pay because they preferred the options available to them in the paid column vs. the free. Now imagine the free selection at starbucks was nearly as…

App Cubby Blog – The Sparrow Problem: “The gold rush is well and truly over.” (Via. app cubby) Yep. I’ve been feeling that this was the case for a while now, but it’s good to see other indie devs acknowledging it. We did this to ourselves; by racing to drop our prices down to basically nothing, we’ve trained an entire generation of users to value our products at next to nothing. And then we act surprised when they complain about having to pay for anything. It happened with…

Podcasts Version: 1.0 Review | iPhone and iPad Entertainment App | Macworld: Apple’s new Podcasts app is a welcome step to bringing attention to audio and video podcasts that were previously buried in the Music app. But while it has some good things going for it, it’s a step that’s not yet fully realized. (Via www.macworld.com) This is Marco Arment’s Starbuck’s theory playing out. Rather than threatening current podcasts applications on the App Store, Apple’s Podcasts app is more likely to raise awareness…

Apple warns developers against gaming App Store rankings | Macworld: For many developers, Apple’s warning, and the fact that it appears to be cracking down on apps that take advantage of these means, is definitely a positive. For one thing, it helps level the playing field for those trying not just to make a hit, but a living developing software. “There are plenty of developers who work very hard to produce quality apps,” The Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry wrote in an email toMacworld, “and we’re all happy to see…

> Mean­while, on the Mac end, I think I’ve bought less than five pro­grams all year, mostly due to a long, bor­ing dance between down­load and payment: > > 1. Have a need, decide to find an app. I usu­ally [start here](http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/), but also do a Google Search. > 2. After find­ing sev­eral apps, search for reviews and rat­ings about that app before decid­ing which to download. > 3. Down­load the app. Fig­ure out how this app…