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Facebook’s platform may have come to life on the back of freemium apps, but now it’s taking another page from Apple’s playbook by offering paid apps. A beta program starting now will let developers charge Facebook users a flat fee to use their apps. This will cover both HTML5 apps and apps on the canvas (meaning on Facebook.com).
This was part of a bigger announcement today, in which Facebook gave a sneak peek at a new “App Center,” which is kind of like an app store. It’s very different from the iTunes store in that there aren’t rankings by popularity. App recommendations are personalized and social. Josh Constine is doing a full feature-by-feature take on the new app center here.
Here’s the excerpt from Facebook’s post:
Many developers have been successful with in-app purchases, but to support more types of apps on Facebook.com, we will give developers the option to offer paid apps. This is a simple-to-implement payment feature that lets people pay a flat fee to use an app on Facebook.com. If you are interested in the beta program, please sign up to receive more information.
This could make it easier for Facebook to break into other categories outside gaming. Facebook’s chief financial officer David Ebersman reiterated in the company’s IPO roadshow video that the company is looking to support payments for other types of apps outside of games. They’re also considering lowering the standard 30 percent revenue share that they charge developers for apps that aren’t games and that have higher operating costs (which we reported on first!)
In general, though, this move totally goes against the major trend of the last year and a half — which is to move away from paid apps and toward freemium ones. Even if you look at iOS’ top grossing list today, about 80 percent of the top 25 apps are free.
If Facebook can get some developers to offer really interesting paid apps, then it will be able to get the number of paying users up. In 2011, only 15 million out of the company’s then 845 million monthly active users paid with Credits, according to Facebook’s IPO filing.
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Facebook’s platform may have come to life on the back of freemium apps, but now it’s taking another page from Apple’s playbook by offering paid apps. A beta program starting now will let developers charge Facebook users a flat fee to use their apps. This will cover both HTML5 apps and apps on the canvas (meaning on Facebook.com).
This was part of a bigger announcement today, in which Facebook gave a sneak peek at a new “App Center,” which is kind of like an app store. It’s very different from the iTunes store in that there aren’t rankings by popularity. App recommendations are personalized and social.
Here’s the excerpt from Facebook’s post:
Many developers have been successful with in-app purchases, but to support more types of apps on Facebook.com, we will give developers the option to offer paid apps. This is a simple-to-implement payment feature that lets people pay a flat fee to use an app on Facebook.com. If you are interested in the beta program, please sign up to receive more information.
This could make it easier for Facebook to break into other categories outside gaming. Facebook’s chief financial officer David Ebersman reiterated in the company’s IPO roadshow video that the company is looking to support payments for other types of apps outside of games. They’re also considering lowering the standard 30 percent revenue share that they charge developers for apps that aren’t games and that have higher operating costs (which we reported on first!)
In general, though, this move totally goes against the major trend of the last year and a half — which is to move away from paid apps and toward freemium ones. Even if you look at iOS’ top grossing list today, about 80 percent of the top 25 apps are free.
View full post on TechCrunch » Mobile
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Sincerely is on a roll. The startup behind a ton of photo-printing and greeting card mobile apps, including Postagram, PopBooth, Sincerely Ink and Dotti, just launched the underpinnings its photo sharing network earlier this month with the debut of “Sincerely Magic,” and today, the company is launching its first-ever partnership with non-profits in a program called “Sincerely Giving.”
If you’re debating about which app you’re going to use to send out your Mother’s Day cards with this year (and c’mon, this is TechCrunch – I bet most of you out there have forgotten how to write legibly using a pen and paper), Sincerely is making the choice easier. With the new program, the majority of the profits from select cards in its Sincerely Ink app will be donated to various non-profits, including the National Breast Cancer Foundation, buildOn, and Thirst Relief International.
To support the above organizations, you’ll need to update or install the Sincerely Ink app, which, for those of you unfamiliar, is like a better version of Apple’s Cards. Then, you’ll pick out the selected cards designed by the charity you want to support. (Look for the category “Giving” – each charity has its own section). There are 25+ designs to choose from. Also, although the launch is being kicked off in time for Mother’s Day, the cards will be available across all occasions.
Although pricier than your typical e-greeting cards (cards are sold for $10 to $20), the idea is that you’re making a donation, not just buying a card. Your donation is the virtual gift you’re sending in lieu of flowers or chocolates, for example. At least 70% of the proceeds from the sales of these cards goes to the charity in question.
The cards also inform the recipient of the donation, noting on the back the amount and what the donation provides. For instance, with a gift to Thirst Relief, it says that one card provides a person with safe drinking water for 25 years.
I mean, really, even if not for Mother’s Day, you should probably find a reason to send one of these things.
Sincerely Giving’s launch marks what may be the first of many moves into the gifting space for the startup. Sincerely’s CEO Matt Brezina previously told us they’re working to build a real gifting company, which leaves room for them to move into sending out other things like gift cards, flowers or photo-printed items, perhaps, in the future.
Sincerely Giving is live now via Sincerely Ink in the App Store.
View full post on TechCrunch » Mobile
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Geeks and sports together? It’s a beautiful thing. Well, at least that’s what ESPN is hoping with the announcement of its brand, spanking new Developer Center, which marks the first time that it will open its doors to third-party developers and provide access to its enormous array of editorial content, stats, and other data.
As Y Combinator Founder Paul Graham tweeted recently, APIs are self-serve business development. Many startups are catching on to the business development catalyst that APIs can be, but certainly few would say that ESPN, the self-tagged “world leader in sports,” needs as much help in that department as the many startups out there just trying to get off the ground.
That being said, this marks a big step forward for ESPN, and all those entrepreneurs and developers who have been itching to gain access to ESPN’s content. As one would guess, the sports behemoth’s new Developer Center is a web resource that allows developers to join the company’s API program for the purpose of gaining access to ESPN data to create new web and mobile apps for the rabid, sports-consuming public.
As part of the launch, ESPN is making its “Headlines API” available to the public, which will allow third-parties to tap into the site’s daily news stories and headlines, find content related to any ESPN story, create a “Top Stories” summary, etc.
The Developer Center also includes a Research Notes API, which is now only available for strategic partners, giving them access to ESPN’s archive of facts and figures compiled by the stats geeks in the ESPN Stats and Information Group.
It will also be launching several other APIs in private beta (only for select partners at this point), including its Scores and Schedules API that provides start times, venues, competiros, scores, and stats across every major sport, as well as a set of other APIs that offer standings, team, and athlete information.
Developers looking for access to an ESPN API can head over to the Developer Center now to request a developer key. access to an ESPN API can now go to the ESPN Developer Center and request a developer key. The ESPN crew will be at SXSW to meet with developers and give a tour of its new resources.
The launch of the Developer Center, Jason Guenther, Vice President of ESPN Digital Media Technology, tell us, is the culmination of 7-months of effort. The Developer Center has been in private beta since last fall, in testing internally and with a few select partners. Foursquare, one of these early partners, has been testing ESPN’s Research Notes API, allowing its users to check in to sports-related events to receive relevant factoids powered by ESPN.
What’s more, as MG reported back in August, Pulse became one of the first partners with which ESPN syndicated its content — other than its own, and the team tells us that Pulse — as well as Flipboard — have been instrumental as early adopters in helping to test its Headlines API while in beta.
Chris Jason, director of ESPN’s API program, and Guenther said that its new Developer Center is “fundamental to its business strategy going forward,” and that they view its API program as “transformational.” And that’s not only because third-parties will be able to access its data to create a mind-numbing array of sports apps replete with ESPN data, but to ESPN’s internal development as well. The company now has one distinct resource it can point to when asked about its data resources, both internally and externally.
“As digital and TV are really starting to collide,” Guenther said, “making sure that we have a comprensive data strategy is extremely important.”
ESPN has been hosting a number hackathons to give developers an opportunity to access its data and create cool, sports-related apps, which you can check out here.
The team said that it is going to continue to pushing forward with its APIs, and will at some point in the not-so-distant future be launching a “Labs” section that will list products and product enhancements, and give fans opportunities to weigh in on what types of products or features they would like to see become part of the ESPN app ecosystem.
But, for now, ESPN is just concerned with lowering the barriers to innovation, and when asked about its plans for the future, Jason said, “first and foremost is to set our content free.” And what’s better than free data?
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