Chapter 14: Selling Past the Sale with In App Purchases
The iOS SDK makes it possible for many developers to make a living independently, and there are a variety of business models from which to choose. The first model is easily understandable (and arguably the most profitable): Make an app and sell it on the App Store. Another model is to release two versions—a free lite version and a pro (paid) version of the same app. Yet another model, probably pioneered by Web 2.0, is advertisement based. Developers use a third-party advertiser’s SDK (or iAds) to show advertisements and developers get paid for impressions or click-throughs. While all these augment the earnings of a developer, the first model, selling apps on the App Store, has been by far the most successful model. In App Purchases offer yet another unique way to sell premium content or features on your iOS app. Some apps take advantage of this and make money only through In App Purchases. They fall into a category called freemium apps and they have been quite successful, at least when you look at the top-grossing apps list on the U.S. App Store.
This chapter introduces you to Apple’s In App Purchase framework, StoreKit.framework, and moves on to a wrapper framework, the MKStoreKit. You learn how to use it to integrate a mini In App Store within your app. This chapter also provides solutions to the problems that developers most commonly face while integrating StoreKit within their apps.
Before You Start
The chapter is broadly ...
