The Apple company has partially abandoned the positioning of free-to-play applications as free programs. To be more precise, I took the first step towards this.
As you know, under the icon of the paid application on its page in the iTunes App Store there is a button with its price. Clicking on it is a direct purchase of the program.
Free and shareware applications previously had a different button – namely, with the inscription free (or in the Russian-language store “Free”). However, now the signature is different: get (we have it a little longer – “Install”).
Most likely, such a step is connected with the introduction of new rules regarding applications with micro-transactions by the European Commission, which in July this year decided that “games advertised as “free” should no longer mislead users about the true costs.”
Recall that Google in the summer also announced plans to stop positioning applications with IAP as free by September 2014. And today, going to the application page in Google Play, the user is also met with a button not “Free”, but “Install”.
The problem is that in both stores, signatures remain on the storefronts themselves, informing whether the user can download the program for free or for money. And whether Apple and Google will change something here is not clear.
And if it doesn’t, is it possible to talk about a change of positioning and a new terminology?
Also on the topic:The UK has introduced rules for free-to-play games