A brief analysis of the conspiracy theory behind the App Store's 1 Yuan selection

Careful readers may have noticed that today, AppStore launched a 1-yuan special zone, where hundreds of high-quality products are once again available at a low price of 1 yuan. Among them are well-known old games such as "Hell Border", "Deemo", "BADLAND" and new games such as "Murderous Fairy Tale" and "Sky Change". What exactly is the purpose of Apple's actions? The sudden presence of a large number of 1-yuan low-priced apps on the AppStore paid list means the arrival of a new round of 1-yuan low-priced apps? What is the purpose of AppStore doing this?

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1. Not only China, but also 6 other countries have the "1 yuan special price"

Regarding the above phenomenon, Apple officially stated that this is not an official behavior of Apple, but a spontaneous behavior of reducing the prices of their products because developers can change prices independently.

The privilege of this special price for apps is no longer limited to Chinese players. Not long ago, Apple also informed developers in six countries, including Mexico, India, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, and Indonesia, of the new AppStore price adjustment plan, allowing them to set a special price for their apps below the standard price of $0.99.

It seems that in addition to Apple's emphasis on markets such as China, the important purpose of these measures is to cultivate users' consumption habits.

Second, the launch of 1 yuan games is a sign of Apple's emphasis on markets such as China and Mexico?

According to data released by AppAnnie, in the first fiscal quarter of 2015, the number of iOS app downloads in China and Mexico increased significantly, and China became the country with the largest number of iOS app downloads, far exceeding the United States. In terms of iOS app revenue, the United States still ranks first, Japan ranks second, and China ranks third. It can be seen that China is a market with considerable "money prospects" for Apple.

In addition, before Apple implemented the 1 yuan preferential policy for Chinese users, according to Apple's previous pricing strategy, the price of each app could not be lower than 0.99 US dollars (equivalent to 6 yuan). Since November last year, after Apple announced that the AppStore added UnionPay payment options for mainland Chinese users, the AppStore added a pricing strategy for China, and many more 1 yuan apps were added. Until July this year, Apple added a similar strategy for Chinese users in 6 countries outside of China, which is enough to show that Apple attaches great importance to markets such as China and Mexico.

3. Attract users with low prices and cultivate their paying habits

Although China has become the country with the largest number of iOS app downloads, the number of paying users is not that large. Therefore, low prices have become the most powerful means to attract users to pay.

According to the CNNIC "2015 China Mobile Game User Survey Report", the payment rate of domestic mobile game users increased from 27.8% in 2014 to 46.6% in the first half of 2015. The main reason for this result is that users' payment habits for games have changed, and this habit is the result of successful cultivation by game manufacturers using marketing methods. Among them, the 1 yuan game launched by Apple for the Chinese market and other regions mentioned above is a typical case of cultivating users' payment habits.

4. Product quality is the basis for attracting users

In the paid list of Apple Appstore, in addition to being dominated by a large number of 1-yuan game apps, some old games can also be seen returning to the list. For example, "Deemo", which was ranked 67th on June 23, returned to the top 5 as of yesterday (July 19). Another example is "The Room Two", which went from 94th on July 6 to 110th on July 15, and then returned to 8th on July 19. This shows that no matter what game it is, product quality is still very important, and a good product ultimately relies on product quality to attract users to use it for a long time.